A is for Adventures
by SerenBex
Summary: OK... I was technically bullied into writing this :P Evie is back... again! Rating is for language at some points
1. Fancy Another Adventure

_**Hello lovely people :)**_

_**I'm back! And so is Evie! And I guess I should do the usual beginning of a story stuff:**_

_**Disclaimer – I sadly own nothing to do with Doctor Who (except a poster, a couple of DVDs and a sonic screwdriver that I "borrowed" off my six-year-old cousin) and I own none of these characters except Evie Song who is mine, all mine! **_

_**This story is set during 'The Impossible Astronaut', 'Day of the Moon' and at the end of 'A Good Man Goes to War'. I'm just making sure you are aware of this right at the beginning! :)**_

_**As usual, all speech that is from the episodes is in italics.**_

_**I think that's about it… I have a feeling that this is almost definitely going to be longer than the other parts, so I really hope you enjoy it and please, please, PLEASE drop me a review if you are reading! It makes me happy to know that people are enjoying my writing! :D**_

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><p>There was a slight flash as the twenty-year-old materialised in the prison cell that she shared with her mother. River, used to her daughter reappearing in such a manner, barely blinked. The man sitting beside her jumped, his face splitting into a grin as his brain caught up with his eyes and he realised who it was.<p>

"Evie!" He exclaimed happily, standing up and embracing her tightly. Judging by the situation and his appearance this was rather late on in his timeline.

The young woman raised her eyebrows, looking at her mother over the Doctor's shoulder. River laughed and stood up, putting her hands gently on his shoulders and steering him towards the cell door.

"I think it's time you were going." She said. The Doctor pouted in disappointment.

"Hey, Doc." Evie said, grinning at the expression on his face as she used the nickname he hated most.

"I'm not one of the seven dwarves." He reminded her as he always did.

"Maybe not, but they had better dress sense. Maybe you should ask them for fashion tips?" She teased, leaning against the bars of the cell nonchalantly. He stopped walking towards the TARDIS and turned to face her, looking outraged.

"Bow ties are cool! I keep telling you but you just won't listen. Besides, you can talk!" He countered. "Who goes around wearing a ripped vest top that is frankly obscene? Honestly, you let your daughter out like that?" He asked, directing the question at River. The woman shrugged, eyeing the garment calmly.

"She's worn worse, sweetie, on the 'obscenity' scale. But generally when she comes home in that kind of state she's been somewhere with you." River told him gently. "Last time she went off with you she came back soaked from head to toe with sea water and a massive great wound on her leg."

"You know… the pirates and that virtual doctor. It was supposed to be my birthday treat but it went a bit wrong… remember?" Evie clarified because the Doctor was looking totally confused as to how she could have got in such a state, even in his care. "Anyway, Mum, all I'm going to say is if he ever offers to take you to Venice say no. Too many Vampire-like fish creatures."

"Ahhh! I remember that! It was a long, long time ago!" The Doctor said excitedly. "Signora Calvierri and the "Sisters of the Water". Is that where you've just come from? Now I think about it I remember you ripping your top… you were trying to escape from the Signora's son, weren't you? Didn't you fall out of a window or something?"

"It was that or get turned into one of those… things." Evie said calmly, knowing that he was trying to tease her and refusing to rise to his bait.

"What?" River demanded, slightly annoyed.

"Oh, you know, he needed someone on the inside… Amy and I fitted the bill. Anyway, it went a bit wrong and we ended up strapped to chairs having our blood drunk by Vampire fish things." The girl said quickly. She found it hard to call the young woman who didn't know the connections between them anything other than by her name, while River had no trouble calling her 'Mum' or 'Mother'.

River glared between the Doctor and her daughter. Then, in one fluid motion she moved to her daughter's side and swept the dark curls away from her neck, revealing two puncture marks. The Doctor had offered to remove the wounds, but Evie had refused thinking they made her look like… well… like she'd been attacked by a Vampire and won. River exhaled sharply and shook her head.

"I can't trust you with anything important, can I, sweetie?" She accused the Doctor in slightly amused exasperation. He just smiled sheepishly at her and rubbed the back of his neck. "Anyway, you'd really better go." She left Evie's side to push the Doctor firmly towards the TARDIS, landing a kiss on his mouth as she did so.

"Eurgh." Evie grimaced. "Children present, you know."

River laughed, detaching herself from the Doctor's grasp and turning around to face the young woman. "And don't we know it."

Retreating from the blue box, River put an arm loosely around her daughter's shoulders as they watched the Doctor give one final wave before closing the TARDIS doors. Then he poked his head out again and pointed at the girl.

"If you fancy another adventure… Provence, France on June 2nd 1890. We met Vincent Van Gogh… quite an adventure!" Then he winked and vanished inside dematerialising into the Vortex.

"Came for a chat, did he?" Evie asked cynically turning and heading into the cell. She went to the cupboard in the corner and began rummaging through it, looking for a change of clothes. Pulling several items out, she dropped those that she was rejecting in a heap on the floor, settling for a pair of baggy, ripped jeans and a t-shirt that was slightly too short and revealed her stomach. River sighed.

"I hope you're intending to put those clothes away?" She asked pointing at the pile beside her daughter's feet.

"I need a shower. I'll put them away after." Evie moaned, taking the clothes she had selected and heading out of the cell and along the corridor. Knowing full-well that she wouldn't put the clothes away, River picked them up muttering under her breath.

x-x

When Evie was showered and dressed in clean clothes, she curled up on the bed beside her mother. River looked up from the book she was reading and sighed, before closing it and turning all her attention to her daughter. The girl obviously wanted to tell her all about her adventure and River, despite her apparent reluctance, was eager to hear it.

"We turned up at Rory's stag do and the Doctor jumped out of a cake and told him he'd kissed Amy." Evie told her mother who just smirked and shook her head wordlessly. "Then we went to Venice – the Doctor's idea of a romantic surprise for them – and met the "Sisters of the Water" and the Doctor sent Amy and I into the strange girls' school they were running and they strapped us to chairs and we nearly got turned into Vampire fish. Oh and then we escaped, I fell out of a window – which explains the ripped top and bruises – and… oh yeah, Rory offended Signora Calvierri's son with a 'your mother' joke and got into some kind of sword versus broom fight with him until Amy set fire to him with a mirror. Then the Doctor stopped the weather machine and Signora Calvierri threw herself in the water and got eaten. I left them deciding that Rory is going to stay in the TARDIS."

River shook her head. "D'you know, sweetie, I don't know whose stories I find more confusing… yours or the Doctor's. Neither of you make any sense when you're thinking and speaking at the same time."

The younger woman shrugged. "I just get a bit overexcited, that's all. There's so much to say and not enough time to say it in! So… you never told me why the Doctor was here. Unless I wouldn't want to know, then just say no reason." She pulled a face and River laughed.

"No reason." She said lightly, smirking at the expression on the girl's face. "No. No, he came to drop this off for you."

"For me?" Evie asked, taking the TARDIS blue envelope her mother was holding out to her and turning it over in her hands curiously. "What is it?"

"Just open it and find out, honey." Her mother told her with a laugh.

Evie tore it open, not before she noticed the '2B' written on the flap in silver lettering. Inside was a piece of card; white with a TARDIS blue border. All that was written on the card was a date, a time and some coordinates. Confused, she flipped the card over, hoping to see something else written on it – instructions or an explanation perhaps, although she knew that wasn't the Doctor's style. The back of the card was blank and the same dark shade of blue.

"22nd April 2011… 16:30 MDT… 37° 0'38"N 110° 14'34"W." She read out slowly before her eyes flicked to her mother for some kind of help. River had casually returned her attention to the book she'd been reading before Evie had come back. "Mum?"

"Off you go then. Have fun but be careful; make sure you take you gun everywhere with you." River said, causing Evie's mouth to drop open at her calmness.

"Are you not coming too?"

"No, sweetie. I've been there and done that."

"What?"

River sighed. "Spoilers, sweetie. Now off you go and meet him. Actually, I'd get changed first. You know what it's like… and there WILL be a lot of running, I promise you. And it'll be quite warm." As Evie stood up and began hunting through the wardrobe once more, River looked back down at her book and added, "Oh, and this is reasonably early on for the others but say hello to the younger me."

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><p><em><strong>So? That was the first chapter! Its main intention is to set the scene on how the timelines work because when I sat down to work this out it confused me a bit! <strong>_

_**Basically… **_

_**The Doctor/Amy/Rory**__** are obviously going forwards and parallel with each other. **_

_**River**__** (as far as I can understand from the show) is going backwards compared to them, although I don't buy it and in my mind her timeline is more random with her dropping in every now and again, not necessarily in any sort of order. So that's what it's like in this story – meaning her much younger self has already done 'The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon', because she just has. OK?**_

_**Evie**__** is totally confusing – she's parallel with River, but just drops in on The Doctor and co at random. So at some points she's parallel to them and other times she isn't (which explains why she does 'The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang' and 'The Curse of the Spot' BEFORE 'The Vampires of Venice' and why she has also done things which they haven't even got to yet).**_

_**Phew… hope this isn't TOO confusing and the attempted explanation means that it makes a bit more sense! I think this is the most complicated thing I've ever written! :P**_

_**Hope you enjoy it, anyway – let me know what you think :)**_


	2. Stetsons Are Cool

_**OK, Shifuni is right… I wasn't bullied… just gently persuaded. Although it didn't take too much persuasion to write this! I could probably keep going forever! :P**_

_**And thank you, lovely lovely people, for reading, commenting, favouriting and alerting already. I do love you all! :D**_

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><p>Evie put the information into her Vortex Manipulator, shot River a smile and vanished. She left before her mother's words had escaped her mouth.<p>

"Be careful." River breathed, looking as though she wished her daughter wasn't going after all. But the woman knew that when Evie or the Doctor got an idea into their heads then there was no stopping them. And the Doctor had decided that she should be a part of this particular adventure, especially knowing what he knew now; a fact that Evie would find out soon enough.

x-x

As soon as she materialised on the dusty highway, Evie looked around and spotted a small huddle of people standing beside a red car, hugging each other. With a broad grin, she jogged over to them, putting her hands on the checked-shirt covered shoulders of her grandmother. Amy whirled around at the touch, almost knocking the girl out with her enormous bag.

The red-head beamed, dropping the bag and squeezing Evie tightly. They laughed, happy to be reunited, before Evie disentangled herself and gave Rory a hug before turning to the Doctor who was watching her with a wide grin.

"You got the message then? I thought that was the best way to get it to you!" He told her, pulling her into a bear hug.

"Course, but why didn't you just tell me in person?"

"Ahh!" He raised his eyebrows. "It was more exciting this way!"

Evie laughed and dragged herself out of his tight grip. She shot a glance at the Stetson perched jauntily on top of his head. "Why?"

"Don't you even start that one… we've already had this conversation once today. Anyway, _I wear a Stetson now, Stetsons are cool._"

Amy and Rory were looking between them in amused confusion. No sooner had the words left the Doctor's mouth, than they heard the loud crack of a gunshot and the Stetson flew off his head, bouncing and rolling away down the dusty track. All four of them turned to see River, blowing across the end of the longer than normal barrel of her handgun, before she returned it to the holster at her hip.

"_Hello, sweetie._" She said in her usual tone. Evie grinned, looking at the younger version of her mother. She looked exactly the same as the River that Evie had just left in the future. The woman hadn't aged at all, which made her daughter wonder just how much younger this one was.

"River!" Amy squealed and the Doctor smirked at her. After another round of hugging, Evie stepped forwards to greet her mother. River's eyebrows furrowed slightly as she took in the girl standing in front of her.

"Hi." Evie said smiling. Her face fell a little as River just looked totally confused.

The Doctor, realising what must have happened, stepped in and suggested that they headed to a small diner where they could get a drink and talk properly. Amy and Rory noticed the strange atmosphere between the two women, but said nothing.

The five of them piled into the car and the Doctor drove, at breakneck speed, along the dusty road. They chatted about what had been going on in their lives since they'd last met. This was more difficult than it seemed, for the Doctor, River and Evie that was, because they had to be careful not to say something that could drastically alter anything in the future or the past.

"Here we go." The Doctor said cheerfully, pulling up with a screech of breaks in the car park of the diner. The others were glad to get out and stand on the solid, motionless ground after being driven by the Time Lord. It was worse than being in turbulence in the Vortex.

As the Ponds led the way in to the café, the Doctor held River and Evie back, telling his companions that they'd catch them up. Sending the trio a curious, slightly hurt, look the young couple went inside and placed their order with the man behind the counter.

"Younger River, older Evie." He said, pointing to the younger woman who was staring at her mother in confusion. "Older Evie, younger River."

"Evie?" River asked, her mouth falling open. "I thought I recognised you somehow but… my Evie's only four."

"You warned me you were younger… but I didn't realise you'd be this much younger. Although you look exactly the same; you haven't aged at all." Evie murmured with her eyes glued to her mother's face. "You said hi, by the way."

The woman's face cracked into a smirk and she shook her head slightly, laughing. "Typical. So, how old are you?"

"Twenty. And three months." Evie told her with a grin. "A bit of a shock, right?"

"Yeah…" River shook her head slightly. "Well… I can't have done too badly if you turned out alright."

"Nope. You were the best."

"Were?"

"Are, obviously, I meant you ARE the best." Evie corrected herself quickly, seeing the surprise shoot across her mother's face. Nervously, wondering whether she'd said too much, the younger woman glanced towards the Doctor. He was staring between them, looking slightly disgusted.

"Eurgh…" He said, pulling a face. "When did you two get so… soppy."

River rolled her eyes and slapped the Doctor on the arm, before heading inside the diner. Shaking her head, Evie followed, leaving the Time Lord to bring up the rear, grinning cheerfully.

x-x

"_Right then, where are we?_" River asked, flicking through the pages of her TARDIS diary. It was a lot emptier than the diary that Evie had watched her mother writing in a couple of days earlier. It was also a lot less battered and damaged. "_Have we done Easter Island yet?_"

"_Ummm… Yes! I've got Easter Island!_" The Doctor exclaimed excitedly. Beside him, Evie rested her elbow on the table and cradled her head in her palm, smiling fondly. She remembered reading about their adventures on Easter Island in her mother's diary and it helped her place where they were; not exactly, because their timelines were so muddled, but it helped a little.

"_They worshipped you there! Have you seen the statues?_" River continued as Amy and Rory made their way back to the table with their drinks.

"_Jim the Fish!_" The Doctor continued, not answering her question. Evie laughed out loud this time, remembering the story her mother had told her about the semi-aquatic alien. That particular adventure had happened when Evie was about three.

"_Oh! Jim the Fish! How is he?_"

"_Still building his dam._" The Doctor said as River and Evie laughed. The three of them had to scoot along the padded seats in the booth so that Rory and Amy could sit down as well.

"_Sorry… What are you two doing?_" Rory asked, looking confusedly at the identical diaries that River and the Doctor were holding.

"_They're both time travellers,_" his wife explained to him before anyone else could speak, "_so they never meet in the right order. They're syncing their diaries. So,_" she turned to the Doctor, "_what's happening then? 'Cos you've been up to something._"

The Time Lord sent her a small smile. "_I've been running. Faster than I've ever run… and I've been running my whole life. Now it's time for me to stop._" He was looking around at his friends as he spoke, his eyes conveying just how weary he was. "_And tonight I'm going to need you all with me._"

Amy was the only one who spoke, voicing all their thoughts as her own. "_Ok, we're here. What's up?_"

"_A picnic. And then a trip. Somewhere different, somewhere… brand new._"

"_Where?_"

He grinned round at them with an expression that made Evie nervous and excited in equal measures. "_Space… 1969._"

"Really?" Rory looked like an overexcited child. His wife, daughter and granddaughter all started to laugh at his excitement, sharing amused looks between them.

"Come on, then." The Doctor said, rubbing his hands together eagerly. "Picnic time!"


	3. Happy Picnic Time

"Wine?" Amy asked Evie, holding out the bottle to her. The brunette nodded reaching out to take it from her hands when River cut in, grabbing hold of it herself. "Hey, River!"

"What?" River inquired innocently, gulping down her own wine and pouring the last of the red liquid from the bottle into her own glass and handing the now empty vessel to Evie.

"I am twenty, you know." Her daughter said meaningfully picking up River's glass and taking a large gulp before sticking out her tongue and grinning. The woman stared back blankly, arching an eyebrow. "Not a child anymore."

"Twenty? When did that happen? Last time I saw you, you were nineteen." Amy asked, astonished.

"Three months ago… you were there!" The younger girl told her with a shrug. Then she sighed, realising that on Amy's timeline their Pirate adventure had obviously not happened yet. She was also wondering why the Time Lord had summoned them here; she doubted it was just for a picnic. "Come on, happy picnic time."

"Evie's right!" The Doctor agreed in his usual enthusiastic way. "_Salut!_"

"_Salut!_" They chorused happily. Three of them clinked their glasses together, the Doctor raising the almost empty bottle in his hand and Evie added the totally empty one to the cheer.

Rory, evidently excited, couldn't wait to find out the answer to the question that had been bothering him since the Doctor had mentioned their eventual destination in the diner. "_So…_" he said as the others took gulps from their glasses. "_When are we going to 1969?_"

"_And since when do you drink wine?_" Amy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"_I'm 1103, I must have drunk it sometime._" Evie and Amy exchanged an amused, expectant look. The two young women started to laugh as the Time Lord took a swig from his bottle and spat the liquid straight out, pulling a face as he did so. "_Eurgh! Wine is horrid! I thought it would taste more like the gums._"

"_1103?_" Amy asked casually, picking at the food laid out on the blanket between them. "_You were 908 the last time we saw you._"

"_And you've put on a couple of pounds… I wasn't going to mention it._" He replied, slightly offended.

"So? What have you been up to?" Evie asked the Doctor, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Amy seemed to be squinting at something in the distance. Before he could answer, the red-head spoke in a faint voice.

"_Who's that?_"

"_Hmm?_ _Who's who?_" Rory asked, looking at her. Amy shook her head slightly, before raising her glass to her lips again.

"_Sorry, what?_"

"_What did you see? You said you saw someone?_"

"_No, I didn't._"

Throughout her grandparents' exchange, Evie had kept her gaze on the Doctor. She was watching his expression for any clues as to what he was thinking or what was going on. The Time Lord looked rather shifty, trying not to meet anyone else's eyes. River, too, was surreptitiously shooting the man glances beneath her curls. Rory's attention was fixed on his wife and Amy was concentrating on the glass of wine in her hand, a curious lost expression in her eyes.

"_Ah! The Moon, look at it._" The Doctor said finally, pointing up to where the large, white orb was visible in the bright blue sky. Evie had always found it odd that the moon, which she always associated with darkness and night-time, was sometimes visible during daylight, shining against the bright sky. All five of them turned to look where he was pointing. "_Of course, you lot did a lot more than look, didn't you? Big, silvery thing in the sky… you couldn't resist it. Quite right._"

"_The moon landing was in '69. Is that where we're going?_" Rory asked, leaning forward in his excitement. The women exchanged yet another look; none of them had imagined him as a big space fan. It was really rather sweet.

"_Oh, a lot more happens in '69 than anyone remembers._" The Doctor told him, smiling craftily. "_Human beings… I never thought I'd get done saving you._"

Something about his tone and choice of words caught Evie's attention and raised her suspicions. She thought hard, trying to make connections to other things she'd seen and heard. Her gut feeling was that something bad, something incredibly bad, was about to happen. But her mother – the older version – had already lived through this… surely she'd have warned Evie if something terrible was about to take place.

"_Who's he?_" Amy asked suddenly, bringing Evie back from her thoughts. The young woman hadn't noticed the vehicle pulling up on the hill behind them, the man getting out of it or even the Doctor standing up and greeting him.

"_Oh my god._" River breathed, standing up as well. But she was looking in the opposite direction, out across the vast expanse of water. Rory and Evie jumped to their feet instantly, followed more slowly by Amy. An astronaut was standing motionless in the water, watching them. Evie's mouth dropped open as she stared at the sight from her spot between Rory and the Doctor.

The Doctor was the first to speak, sounding oddly calm, almost resigned. "_You all need to stay back. Whatever happens now you do not interfere... Clear?_" He had moved forwards so that he was standing between the astronaut and his friends. As he spoke he turned to look at them, pain mixing with resignation on his face. Evie had no intention of sticking to that order… since when had she done what the Doctor told her without an argument?

They watched, huddled together, as the Doctor calmly walked away down the sand towards the figure in the water. Instinctively, as she always did when she was worried, Evie moved closer to River, slipping her hand into her mother's. The older woman jumped slightly, glancing down at their clasped hands in surprise. Then she let go, folding her arms over her chest. Evie felt her eyes beginning to water and clenched her jaw, forcing herself to hide how much River's action had hurt her.

"_That's an astronaut. That's an Apollo astronaut in a lake._" Rory pointed out unnecessarily. Even in spite of the tenseness of the situation, and her sudden upset, Evie couldn't help herself rolling her eyes slightly at her grandfather's words. While he and Amy stood together, Evie stayed with River a little way away from them.

"Mum…" She muttered in a low voice, hiding the unreasonable bitterness she felt. "What's happening? Something's wrong."

River nodded. "I know." She said blandly. "I know."

They stood in silence, watching the Doctor speaking to the astronaut. What they could be talking about so intently, Evie had absolutely no idea. But she was trying her hardest to try and work it out. The astronaut raised his hand as though he was pointing at the Doctor, whose head had lowered so that he was staring at his feet. It was almost like an execution, Evie thought morbidly. Then her mouth fell open in horror.

"Oh my god! That's a gun!" She breathed mere seconds before they heard a loud bang, saw a flash of green light and the Doctor fell backwards.

"_Doctor!_" Amy screamed, starting to run forwards. Evie followed her, remembering but choosing to ignore the Doctor's orders. River grabbed at both of them, struggling to hold them back.

"_Stay back!_" She shouted, leaving Rory to keep hold of his wife while she wrestled with Evie who was determined to free herself from the woman's grasp. "No, Evie! We have to stay back!"

Both the younger women were fighting to escape. The Doctor was on the floor now; the second blast of the gun had knocked him completely off his feet and onto his back.

"Get. Off. Me!" Evie shrieked struggling to get herself free of River's strong arms. "Mum! Get off!"

River's arms went limp as the words escaped from her daughter's mouth. Evie turned round slowly and River's eyes widened as they met hers. The younger woman went slightly pale as she realised what she'd said and they both glanced at Rory and Amy. The couple were still fighting against each other and neither seemed to have noticed the brunette's slip up.

"Just bloody stop it." The woman snapped at her daughter once she had recovered slightly from the shock, a steely glint in her eyes. It was a tone that Evie had heard often; the tone her mother used when Evie was pushing her too far. Taking a breath and feeling hot tears burning in her own eyes the girl nodded. She stood beside River, instead of fighting against her, watching the Doctor who was now kneeling on the ground, staring at his hands. Gold mist was gathering and swirling around him, readying him for regeneration.

Just as the regeneration began to reach its strongest point, with golden light bursting from his hands and head, the astronaut shot the Doctor a final time. The light vanished and the Doctor fell. Evie didn't need telling what that meant.

"_NO!_" River screamed, pushing past her roughly. "_DOCTOR!_"

She, Rory and Amy sprinted towards the body on the ground, but Evie just stood staring blankly. How could this have happened? Why hadn't her mother warned her? It didn't make any sense. As though she was in a daze Evie walked slowly towards the figures in front of her. River was firing off a round of bullets at the astronaut who was walking back into the lake.

"_His body was already dead._" River told them in a thick voice after a while, fighting back her tears. "_He didn't make it to the next one._"

Evie wasn't listening to the conversation taking place around her. Her eyes were fixed on the Doctor's body, sprawled lifelessly on the sand. He couldn't be dead. She wouldn't accept it. She COULDN'T accept it.

* * *

><p><em><strong>:( The Doctor's dead! And Evie slipped up and shouted Mum at River! What's going to happen next? :O<strong>_

_**OK, we already know, but Evie doesn't. **_

_**I'm SURE their grief deserves a review, yes? :D**_


	4. He's Dead

They didn't bury the Doctor's body. Instead they laid it in a rowing boat, doused him in petrol and set fire to it. It moved gently across the lake, flames rising high into the air as they licked the wood of the boat and the body of the Time Lord. As River had pointed out, even the body of a Time Lord was a miracle and they couldn't risk anyone getting their hands on him.

Amy had found it the most difficult to let go. Not that the others hadn't been devastated. As they laid the Doctor out in the boat Evie had had to hold Amy up. Her knees had buckled as she'd broken into sobs, clinging to the younger girl. Rory had helped River lay the Doctor out and pour the petrol over him. Then he pushed the boat onto the lake and threw in a match, watching it burst into flames. Amy pulled herself out of Evie's embrace and stepped forwards a couple of paces as the boat drifted away.

Now Evie found herself standing next to the old man who'd brought the petrol can. She wondered briefly who he was and what he was doing here, but then she sent him a weak smile as he glanced across at her. He laid a gentle hand on her forearm and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I'm sorry, Evie." He said in a low voice.

The girl nodded sadly, before turning and walking to stand beside River. They didn't speak. Nor did they look at each other. After hesitating for a moment or two, Evie reached out and took River's hand. This time River didn't let go, but she didn't hold it as firmly as she usually did. She just let her hand lie limply in her daughter's. In silence they stood and watched the boat burning.

"_Who are you? Why did you come?_" River asked finally, dropping Evie's hand and walking forwards to stand beside the old man. It was only then that Evie realised that he had known her name somehow. As far as she remembered she'd never met him before in her life.

Rather than answering, he pulled out an envelope, TARDIS blue and identical to the one the Doctor had given her. River did the same, holding hers next to his.

"_Doctor Song._" He said with a smile. The man looked at each of them in turn. "_Amy, Rory,_ Evie. _I'm Canton Everett Delaware III. I won't be seeing you again, but you'll be seeing me._" Then he put on his cap, nodded at River, picked up the petrol can and walked away from the four companions.

They watched him go, silent for a few moments, before River turned with wide eyes. "_Four._"

"_Sorry, what?_" Rory asked. They all looked confused, not just him, so she elaborated.

"_The Doctor numbered the envelopes._ Let's get back to that diner and I'll explain what I'm thinking."

"Why is that important?" Evie asked as they made their way back up the sandy hill towards the car.

"I'll explain at the diner." River replied, slightly snappily. Evie guessed that she was still annoyed at the slip she'd made by shouting 'Mum'. "What number was on your envelope? I'm assuming you got one?"

"Yeah… 2B."

"Hmmm…." River's eyebrows furrowed again and she slid behind the steering wheel, slamming the door. Rory and Amy were already in the back, so Evie sighed and got into the passenger seat. Apparently her mother was a lot moodier when she was younger.

x-x

"_You got three,_" River told her parents as they walked into the diner, "_I was two,_ Evie got 2B _and Mr Delaware was four._"

"_So?_" Rory asked, shooting Evie a curious look. The girl had to admit that it wasn't exactly sly of the Doctor to give her the same number as her mother with a 'B' tagged on the end.

"_So? Where's one?_"

"_What you think he invited someone else?_" Rory pressed. Evie was watching Amy clutching the booth beside her for support.

"Amy…?" Evie murmured, sliding an arm around her waist. The red-head glanced at her without even seeing her. River and Rory had walked on, still talking, but Evie stayed with Amy who seemed rooted to the floor. "Come on… we've got to carry on. We can't just give up."

"_Will you shut up, it doesn't matter."_ She said quietly.

"It does… Amy…" Evie tried to reassure her, but she just shook her head, pushing the younger girl away.

"_He's dead._"

"I know… we know… but…" Evie looked desperately to her mother and grandfather for help, but they weren't paying any attention, still discussing the envelopes and what the numbering might mean.

"_You're still talking, but it doesn't matter._" Amy said, louder this time.

Rory heard her and moved closer. "_Hey, it mattered to him._"

"_So it matters to us._" River agreed.

"_He's dead._" Amy whispered, her eyes glinting manically. Rory had moved to her side now, taking Evie's place. She moved towards the counter, leaning heavily against it. The coldness of the surface and the pain of it digging into her back helped to override the pain of watching the Doctor's lifeless body burning. She still couldn't believe it. Unlike Amy, however, she knew they had to work out what he had meant them to do and do it.

"_But he still needs us._" River pointed out, stepping closer. "_I know, Amy, __I__ know. But right now we have to focus._"

Rory was staring at a table near the back of the diner. Evie followed the direction of his gaze in an attempt to work out what he was seeing. He tapped River on the shoulder, alerting her attention as well.

"_Look…_"

At the same time River and her daughter realised what he had spotted. Another envelope lay on the table. Rory asked the man behind the counter who'd been sitting there while the two woman rushed to the table. The older of the two picked up the envelope and showed it to Evie. Written on the flap, in the same silver lettering, was a '1'.

"But who?" Evie breathed. "Who was number one."

River glanced at her, then turned to the other two. "_The Doctor knew he was going to his death, so he sent out messages. When you know it's the end, who do you call?_"

"_Err… your friends? People you trust?_" Rory suggested.

"_Number one._" The woman held up the envelope, showing them the number on the back. "_Who did the Doctor trust the most?_"

There was no time for them to think, let alone answer her question, before the door behind them opened slowly with a creak. Evie thought her knees were going to give way as she stared at the Doctor who was walking through it, head down and chewing on a straw. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Alright, she'd struggled with the idea that he was dead, but inviting himself here, after that? What was wrong with him?

"_This is cold._" River said, reflecting the girl's feelings completely. "_Even by your standards this is cold._"

"_Or hello, as people used to say._" The Doctor replied cheerfully.

Fury replaced the grief that had settled on Evie, making her blood boil. How could he have done this to them? He had forced them to watch him die and now here he was hugging Amy and Rory as though nothing was the matter. If he thought he was hugging her he had another thing coming.

"_And Doctor River Song…_" The Doctor's tone changed as he moved from Rory to his daughter, setting his eyes appreciatively on her furious face. "_Oh, you bad, bad girl. What trouble have you got for me this time?_"

He'd hardly finished speaking when River brought her hand up and slapped him sharply across the cheek. The sound it made cracked through the air like a whip, causing Evie to wince in sympathy. Then she told herself that he deserved it and her sympathy evaporated instantly.

"_OK…_" The Doctor gasped. "_I'm assuming that's for something I haven't done yet?_"

"_Yes it is._" She replied coldly. Evie could see she was shaking with anger.

"_Good… looking forward to it._" He turned away from River quickly. A patch of red was spreading over his cheek already. Hesitantly he smiled at Evie, as though he was expecting a slap from her as well. "Evie!"

Sensing that he was about to try and hug her, the girl folded her arms and made her voice as cold as she could. "Doctor." The Time Lord looked slightly hurt at her tone.

"_I don't understand._" Rory said, poking the Doctor's chest as though he was looking at a ghost. "_How can you be here?_"

"_I was invited. Date, map reference… same as you lot I assume otherwise it's a hell of a coincidence._" He revealed casually removing the invitation from its envelope and dropping them on the table.

Amy looked to River for an explanation. She seemed to be working things out in her head as she watched the Doctor. "_River? What's going on?_"

"_Amy, ask him what age he is._" The older woman commanded. Evie's mouth dropped open slightly as she realised where her mother was going with this.

"_That's a bit personal._"

"_Tell her. Tell her what age you are._"

"_909._"

"_So where does that leave us, huh?_" River demanded. Her tone conveyed as much hurt as it did anger now. Evie wanted to put a hand on her mother's arm, to comfort her, but she knew that River wouldn't appreciate the gesture. "_Jim the fish? Have we done Jim the fish yet?_"

The Doctor smirked, looking around at the four stony faces staring back at him. "_Who's Jim the fish?_"

"_I don't understand._" Amy confessed, shaking her head and looking at River.

"_Yeah, you do._" Her husband replied moving towards her and holding her hands.

"_I don't._" The Doctor said, raising his voice so that he was almost shouting. "_What are we all doing here?_"

They exchanged wary glances. Telling him the truth wasn't an option. But what should they tell him instead? It had to be something he'd believe. The Doctor was incredibly suspicious when he wanted to be. Instinctively the three younger time travellers looked to River for guidance. She took a steadying breath before she spoke.

"_We've been recruited… something to do with space 1969 and a man called __Canton Everett Delaware III._" River explained, putting as much of what they knew into a plausible explanation. The Doctor, obviously suspicious, was pacing.

"_Recruited by who?_" He demanded.

"_Somebody who trusts you more than anybody else in the universe._"

"_And who's that?_"

River smiled sadly. "_Spoilers._"


	5. Trust You? Seriously?

Subdued, they'd piled into the TARDIS. The Doctor knew that something was wrong, but he was doing his best to pretend it wasn't.

Amy wasn't even attempting to act normally; leaning against the railings that ran around the raised platform on which the console stood. She was staring into space as the Doctor spoke and not seeming to see or hear anything that was going on around her. The red-head was trying to understand what had happened. An older Doctor had taken them on a picnic and been killed before a younger Doctor, a little older than the last time they'd seen him, had arrived with an invitation like the ones they'd received. At least she thought that was what had happened. It was all too confusing.

Rory was leaning against the railings around the side of the console, watching Amy worriedly. He knew how much she loved the Doctor, knew how heartbroken she must have been to watch him die. He was heartbroken as well; the man had been his friend. But now here he was, definitely alive, talking about years that are easy and ones that have glitches as though there was nothing wrong. But, Rory reasoned, the Doctor had no idea that anything was wrong.

River was standing nearer Amy, watching her anxiously with her hands on her hips. She was fuming. The Doctor had done some terrible things in his time but never, never, had he stooped this low; inviting them to watch him being killed before arriving in his younger form. It took someone incredibly egotistical to come up with something like that; incredibly egotistical or completely heartless. And if that wasn't enough, her grown up daughter was here. River had no idea how to deal with the twenty-year-old; she had enough trouble with the four-year-old version. The girl was a complete stranger to her. River didn't know anything about Evie and yet the girl knew everything about her. It was a strange, delicate situation and one that the woman was reluctant to make any more complicated.

Evie was sitting on the steps that led up to the corridors of the TARDIS. She had wrapped her arms around her knees and was resting her chin on her arms, staring glumly in front of her. The girl was unsure whether to be upset that the Doctor had died, relieved that he'd come back or angry with him for the entire situation. She wanted to hit him herself. Why was he babbling on about 1482 and glitches and how many Canton Everett Delawares there could be when he could obviously see that no one was in the mood to listen. Her gaze flickered to River's face for a moment. The woman seemed incredibly uncomfortable that she was here. Evie could understand it, River hadn't expected to meet her and especially not at this age. But why she was trying to distance herself so much, the young woman couldn't understand.

The Doctor was circling the console, talking to each of them as he passed. Amy fled down the steps that led to the floor beneath the platform. A moment or two later River followed, shooting an infuriated look at the Doctor and pushing past him as she went.

"_Rory… is everybody cross with me for some reason?_" The Doctor asked, realising at last that there was an atmosphere hanging between them.

The man looked uncomfortable. "_I'll find out._" He said, retreating down the steps to join the two women beneath the platform. The Doctor watched him go, sadly.

For a moment or two Evie almost felt sorry for him; he looked so lost and confused. But then she remembered what he'd done, what he would do, and anger rushed over her again. Standing, she stalked towards the steps the other three had gone down, pushing past the Time Lord, possibly more roughly than she needed to.

"Evie?" He called, sadly. She flinched and stopped reluctantly, turning to face him. "What have I done?"

"Where should I start?" She snapped.

"But…"

"Seriously, let me calm down or you'll get another slap." She warned, before heading down the steps after the others.

x-x

"_Time isn't a straight line._" The Doctor announced as they all trooped back up the steps a couple of moments later. River had managed to convince Amy that the Doctor was better off not knowing the truth about what was going on. None of them were sure what was going on, but the less the Time Lord knew about what they'd witnessed at the lake, the better. "_It's all bumpy-wumpy. There's loads of boring stuff like Sundays and Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons. But now and then there are Saturdays, big temporal tipping points, when anything is possible. The TARDIS can't resist them; like a moth to a flame. She loves a party. So I give her 1969 and NASA – 'cos that's space in the '60's – and Canton Everett Delaware III and this is where she's pointing…_"

"_Washington DC, April 8__th__ 1969._" Amy read from the scanner they had all gathered around. "_So why haven't we landed?_"

"'_Cos that's not where we're going._" The Doctor answered, causing them all to look at him in surprise.

"_Oh?_" Rory asked. "_Where are we going?_"

"_Home! Well, you two are. Off you pop and make babies. And you, Doctor Song,_" He said stroking her cheek briefly with his index finger, "_back to prison_. Evie… well, you go back wherever you appear from and disappear to." He told her, tapping the tip of her nose as he whirled past. "_And me? I'm late for a bi-plane lesson in 1911. Or it could be knitting. Knitting or bi-planes, one or the other._"

His four companions exchanged looks before peering round the central column of the TARDIS console to where the Doctor had dropped into his chair.

"_What?_" He demanded angrily, looking at them with eyes that clearly indicated that he thought they'd betrayed him by keeping something hidden. "_A mysterious summons… you think I'm just going to go? Who sent those messages? I know you know; I can see it in your faces._" He told them, looking hard at each of them in turn. River and Evie glared back, just as determinedly. Rory looked down, unable to meet the Doctor's gaze. Amy looked imploringly at him, pleading with him to trust them, before she too dropped her eyes to the floor. "_Don't play games with me. Don't ever, ever think you're capable of that._"

"_You're going to have to trust us this time._" River told him firmly.

"_Trust you? Sure._" He got up, raising his voice as he did so and moved to stand in front of River, staring her out. "_But first of all, Doctor Song, just one thing. Who are you?_" There was silence as they glared at each other, neither of them blinking and breaking the gaze. "_You're someone from my future… getting that… but who?_" There was another long silence while he waited for an answer he wasn't going to get. "_OK… why are you in prison, who did you kill? Now I love a bad girl me, but trust you? Seriously?_"

"Doctor…" Evie murmured, sensing her mother's anguish at his questioning and his tone. River had tensed up and was shaking. Despite the way River was doing her best to put as much distance between them as possible, the girl couldn't bear to see her upset any more.

"Ah!" He said, turning to face her instead. "Evie… the girl I found and rescued from a little village all that time ago. If we're talking about secret identities, who are you?" Evie stared back at him, her expression blank so that she wouldn't give anything away. "There was a time when I'd have trusted you implicitly. Anything you said would have become fact and I would have believed it without question. But now…" Evie felt as though he was squeezing her heart, physically ripping it from her chest. It took a lot of self-control to keep her face emotionless and not let the tears fall from her eyes. "Come on, Evie. You appear and disappear from nowhere, you won't tell us where you've been or who with and you seem to know far more than is possible. So… I'm not really finding much of a reason to trust you either at the moment."

"_Trust me._" Amy said suddenly. Evie closed her eyes and took a deep breath as the spotlight was turned away from her. As the Doctor strode towards the Ponds, Evie glanced at River, who nodded quickly and allowed her lips to twitch into a quick smile before she looked away. Her daughter studied her face for a couple of seconds more, before she too turned to look at the Doctor. With a jolt, Evie realised that Amy had caught the look that passed between the two women.

"_OK._" The Doctor said, drawing Amy's gaze away from River and Evie and back to him.

"_You have to do this. And you can't ask why._"

"_Are you being threatened? Is someone making you say that?_" The Doctor demanded, looking seriously at her.

Amy shook her head quickly. "_No._"

"_You're lying._"

"_I'm not lying._"

"_Swear to me… swear to me on something that matters._" He ordered. There was a long pause as Amy thought. Then she smiled slightly, nodding her head.

"_Fish fingers and custard._"

There was another long pause while the Doctor weighed up the situation. Then he smiled weakly at the red-head. "_My life in your hands, Amelia Pond._"

"_Thank you._" River said to Amy in a low voice that was shaking with emotion. Evie just nodded, unable to trust her vocal chords to cooperate at the moment.


	6. The Legs The Nose Baby and Mrs Robinson

They arrived, as was usual when the Doctor was piloting the TARDIS, somewhere where they hadn't expected to end up. To be exact they'd landed in the Oval Office of the White House. The Doctor had been the first one out, telling them to stay put until he'd checked what was going on.

Impatiently they'd waited for his signal that it was safe to come out. Evie was sure she'd spotted Amy throwing her and River some odd, sideways looks, but she ignored her suspicions. Instead she messed around with some of the controls, nothing that would draw attention to the blue box, just some alterations that would improve the way it flew. River noticed what she was doing and slapped her hands away, shooting her a very maternal look indeed. Evie scowled at her, retracting her hands quickly so they couldn't be slapped again.

"I was only trying to make it easier to pilot." The brunette informed her sulkily.

"Yes well don't." River snapped. "It's fine as it is."

"Is there something that you're not telling us?" Amy asked suddenly, narrowing her eyes and fixing her gaze firmly on the two women. Evie and River looked at each other quickly, before glancing back at the red-head and shaking their heads, both pulling what they hoped were 'I have no idea what you're talking about' faces.

Amy was prevented from pursuing her line of questioning as there was an almighty jolt that almost knocked the four of them off their feet. Evie sighed, knowing what must have just happened; the same thing that always happened when the TARDIS was cloaked. The Doctor had walked straight into the side of the police box.

"_Every time._" River said with amused exasperation, moving to the console and pulling the scanner towards her.

"_He said the scanner wouldn't work._" Rory pointed out. Evie sighed and shook her head again.

"_I know!_" River agreed with a grin. "_Bless._"

She began working on it, plugging in cables and causing it to spark. Evie handed her a plug with a reassuring nod, which River looked at in confusion before shrugging and plugging it into the side of the scanner. The machine sparked violently again before crackling into life. River shot her daughter a slightly surprised, yet impressed, look as they crowded around to watch the images on the screen; the Doctor on the ground covered in men in black suits who obviously thought he was some kind of mad man or a threat to the President. Evie didn't blame them; it was an easy mistake to make.

"_River, have you got my scanner working yet?_" He shouted, a large man pushing his face into the floor.

"_Oh, I hate him._" The woman said bitterly.

"_No you don't!_" The Doctor shouted back. "_River, make her blue again!_"

"Can't we just leave him a little while longer?" Evie muttered under her breath, still annoyed with him. It obviously wasn't quite quiet enough because as soon as River had removed the cloak from the TARDIS she raised a hand and smacked Evie round the head. The younger woman screwed up her face in annoyance and rubbed her hair where her mother's hand had connected, but didn't say anything, knowing that she'd probably deserved that one.

Amy and Rory looked surprised but, seeing as neither River nor Evie made any comment and returned to normal seconds later, neither of them mentioned it. Instead the four of them watched the scene unfolding in the President's office on the scanner. They silently agreed to wait until either the Doctor called for them or he looked as though he was about to get himself into trouble; whichever came first. Evie would put money on the second option occurring more quickly.

"_Fellows, the guns… really?_" He asked looking around at all the weapons that were being pointed at him as he sat behind the desk. "_I just walked into the highest security office in the United States, parked a big blue box on the rug and you think you can just shoot me?_"

"_They're Americans!_" River exclaimed, bursting out of the TARDIS, with Evie, Rory and Amy following closely behind her.

"_Don't shot, definitely no shooting._" The Doctor said loudly standing up and putting his hands in the air.

"_Don't shoot us either!_" Rory added, as the four of them put their hands up as well. "_Very much not in need of getting shot. Look, look we've got our hands up._"

"_Who the hell are you?_" President Nixon demanded. Despite the situation they had found themselves in, Evie couldn't help but feel a little excited about being in his presence. She'd read so much about him.

"_Sir, you need to stay back._" The man with the gruff voice who seemed to be in charge of the security men said, holding up a hand in the President's direction. There was something oddly familiar about him, something Evie couldn't put her finger on.

"_But who… who are they? And what is that box?_"

The Doctor looked disgusted at the question. His face was a mask of distain as he answered it. "_It's a police box. Can't you read?_" Then his tone changed as his confidence returned to him. Obviously the opportunity to imply someone, especially someone so important, was stupid reaffirmed his faith in himself. "_I'm your new undercover agent on loan from Scotland Yard, codename the Doctor. These are my top operatives; the Legs, the Nose, Baby and Mrs Robinson._"

Evie made a squeaking sound of annoyance, but River scowled at him, shaking her head. "_I hate you._"

"_No you don't._" The Doctor corrected her, smirking.

"Well, I do! Baby? Why?" Evie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"No, you don't either. And you are the baby… I mean, look at your baby face; you look about twelve. Besides, this isn't really the time to decide you don't like your codename." The Doctor pointed out casually. Evie thought that it was all very well for him to say she had a baby face when he looked just as young.

"You can talk! You look about sodding twelve as well!" She snapped, earning herself another ferocious glare from her mother.

"_Who are you?_" President Nixon asked again, distracting them from their argument. Quickly they redirected their attention to the more important things at hand.

The Doctor jumped slightly. "_Nah… boring question. Who's phoning you? That's interesting, 'cos Canton three is right, that was definitely a girl's voice which means there's only one place in America she could be phoning from._" Evie glanced quickly at the gruff-voiced security man as the Doctor spoke. Now she knew why she recognised him – it was a younger version of the man they'd met by the lake.

"_Where?_"

"_Do not engage with the intruder, Mr Delaware._" The security man nearest the President ordered. Canton ignored him, staring at the Doctor with interest.

"_You heard everything I heard; it's simple enough. Give me five minutes… I'll explain. On the other hand lay a finger on me, or my friends, and you'll never, ever know._"

Canton pointed at the TARDIS. "_How'd you get it in here, I mean, you didn't carry it in._"

"_Clever, eh?_"

"_Love it!_"

"_Do not compliment the intruder._" The security man ordered, his voice sounding slightly panicked. Evie rolled her eyes; men. They were always threatened by things they didn't understand.

"_Five minutes?_"

"_Five._" The Time Lord confirmed with a nod.

"_Mr President, that man is a clear and present danger–_" The security man started, but Canton cut him off.

"_Mr President, that man walked in here with a big blue box and four of his friends. And that's the man he walked past. One of them is worth listening to._" He said in his gruff voice. "_I say we give him five minutes… see if he delivers._"

"_Thanks, Canton._" The Doctor said from his seat behind the desk.

Canton smiled. "_If he doesn't, I'll shoot him myself._"

The Doctor's face fell slightly. "_Not so thanks._"

The security man was obviously not happy with this plan at all. "_Sir, I cannot recommend–_"

"_Shut up, Mr Peterson._" The President snapped, clearly not liking being put in a corner as he had been. He sighed and nodded at Canton. "_Alright._"

"_Five minutes._" Canton Everett Delaware III said. The guns that had been pointed at the four time travellers beside the TARDIS were lowered, much to their relief, allowing them to lower their arms and smile at the Doctor, all except Evie who was still scowling. He was settling himself comfortably behind the President's desk, earning him bemused looks from the Americans and exasperated ones from his friends.

"_I'm going to need a SWAT team ready to mobilise, street level maps covering all of Florida, a pot of coffee, twelve jammy dodgers and a fez._" He said in an overexcited tone. Evie rolled her eyes; unaware that beside her River was doing exactly the same.

"_Get him his maps._"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Uh-Oh! Amy's getting suspicious about what's going on with Evie and River! How long d'you think it'll take before she finds out the truth? And will she tell the others?<strong>_

_**Comments? ;)**_

_**And yes, I know I'm updating quickly, but are you guys complaining? You wanna know the reasons for the super speedy updates? I cannot find a job and therefore I have no money and hardly any social life (as all my friends are similarly jobless and broke). Therefore fanfic benefits! **_

_**Just thought you'd like to know this fascinating snippit from my life! :P**_


	7. I'm Sorry

"River, take those maps and look for any possible buildings… abandoned warehouses… that sort of thing. Put a circle round them when you find them. Amy, Evie, you look at these ones and Rory… well, you just sit there and wait." The Doctor said pulling a face and waving his arms around wildly.

"Oh, thanks." The man said offended. Evie and Amy grinned at each other, before settling down with the maps the Doctor had handed them and pouring over them carefully.

"_Why Florida?_" Canton asked as the Doctor moved past him carrying yet more maps.

"_That's where NASA is. She mentioned a spaceman; NASA's where the spacemen live. Also, there's another lead I'm following._" He replied, adding the last past as though he was not intending to fill them in any more in the subject.

Amy left Evie's side, moving to crouch down beside River. The brunette felt an odd pang of homesickness as she watched them talking in a low voice. Her mother was here, but not here. This River didn't know her the way the older version did. It was almost as though she was a complete stranger.

Standing up suddenly, Evie left the maps lying on the floor and made her way into the TARDIS, closing the door quietly. The only one who had noticed her moving across the room to the blue box was Rory and she ignored the questioning glance that he shot her. Checking the readings on the scanner to make sure she could come back to the exact same spot, Evie typed the coordinates for her mother's cell in the Stormcage Facility just after she'd left it.

x-x

"Evie!" River said happily, jumping up from the bed and throwing her arms around her daughter, hugging her tightly. "How was it? How was everyone?"

"You… the younger you… is a COMPLETE cow!" Evie exploded, putting her hands on her hips. "I've only been there a couple of hours and she's already made me want to cry more times than I've wanted to cry in a long time."

River pulled a guilty face. "So you haven't figured it all out yet? Sorry, baby, has she tapped you round the head yet?"

"Tapped? TAPPED?" Evie was furious. "She bloody smacked me, mother. And that's another thing… why is everyone calling me a baby all of a sudden!"

"Well… I didn't expect to see the twenty-year-old you when I'd just left the four-year-old you with your grandparents, did I, sweetie?" River said defending herself. "And you are my baby, you know that."

"You mean… Amy and Rory?" Evie asked, feeling as though her head was about to explode. She ignored the second part of her mother's speech. River nodded. "Well you weren't going around smacking them!"

"Well no, they're my parents. And besides, they didn't… don't… know who I am at that point, so being annoyed with them wouldn't make any sense."

"You don't make any sense." Her daughter said childishly. "What's going on, mum? First the Doctor… dies… which I don't believe… he can't die. But then he comes back, younger, and… and… what now?"

"You know I can't tell you, Evie, you know that." River said with a sigh. "You've got to work it out for yourselves. And he can die… he just usually doesn't."

"Fine, fine." Evie agreed, sighing as well. "But can you at least tell me how to stop you being such a cow?"

Her mother shook her head, smiling slightly. "Nope and I'm sorry. But I do love you, so much, I promise you that. Everything that happens… well, it happens for a reason."

"I know." Evie hugged her mother again, burying her face in the soft curls and smelling her shampoo and perfume. It was such a familiar, comforting scent that the girl felt like it gave her the strength to do anything. "Wish me luck."

"You won't need it. Just be careful, sweetie. Oh, and when I take you shopping, don't complain, OK? I'll make you look gorgeous. Oh and any proposals we might be given, marriage or… anything else… you make sure we say no. Understand?"

The girl looked confused at the strange advice her mother was giving her. When would they have the change to go shopping, let alone receive any marriage proposals? Adventures with the Doctor rarely left time to breathe, let alone anything else. "Are you sure you should have told me that?"

"Yes." River said with a mischievous grin. "It's important. Besides, how else would you have known last time?"

Evie grinned as well and set the Vortex Manipulator for a couple of seconds after she'd left the White House. "Catch you later."

She vanished. River sighed, thinking about what her daughter was about to go through. "Catch you in a couple of months."

x-x

"Evie?" River jumped as the older version of her daughter appeared in the middle of the TARDIS. "Where have you been?"

"To see the older you." She replied frostily. "To try and work out what's going on and how to get you to trust me. Why, did you miss me?"

"Course not… I was just worried you were getting yourself into trouble." River smiled slightly. "Did I tell you what's going on?"

"Of course not." Her daughter replied bitterly. River laughed.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. It just shocked me that's all. I mean, I just left my Evie, who's only four –"

"With Gran and Gramps, I know."

"How?" River asked in surprise.

Evie smiled weakly. "You just told me."

The two women stared at each other for a moment or two, taking in the situation. Then River opened her arms and Evie fell into them, burying her head into the curly hair once more. She smelled exactly the same as she had a couple of minutes earlier, and many years later, in Stormcage. River stroked her hair, holding her tightly in her arms and Evie couldn't stop her face lighting up with pure happiness.

"Listen to me, alright." River said at last, pulling away from her daughter so that she could hold her at arm's length and look into her eyes. "It'll take time for me to get used to…" she waved her hands between the two of them, indicating that she meant their relationship, "all of this, but I'll try, OK, sweetie? I'll really try, I promise."

Evie nodded, knowing that she was telling the truth, promising so much more than she was saying. "I know, Mum."

"Mum?" A voice said from the doorway to the TARDIS. "Hang on… what?"

The two women beside the console looked at each other in horror, before turning back to face Amy, who was staring at them almost triumphantly. Evie bounded past her, closing the doors to the time machine firmly, while River pulled Amy further into the room.

"You can't say anything." Evie begged. "Not to anyone."

"It's far too early for anyone else to find out yet, Amy. When the time comes, you'll know." River added, squeezing her mother's hand tightly.

Amy was looking between them, as though she was trying to work something out in her head. "But… River… you and the Doctor…"

"Mmmm?" She replied, raising an eyebrow and not giving anything away about the relationship between her and the Time Lord.

"So… is Evie…?"

The brunette glanced quickly at her mother, wondering whether she was at last going to find out the answer to something that she'd wondered for so long. Was she the Doctor's daughter? River just kept her face expressionless and shrugged.

"Spoilers." She said, almost teasingly, smirking as she saw both young women's faces drop. "But Amy, seriously, this has to stay a secret, alright?"

"I promise." The red-head said sincerely, before looking between Evie and River and squealing loudly and excitedly. "It's so obvious now I know! You are like so similar, apart from the hair! I had my suspicions right from the start, and it explains a lot from the last time we met, but you two are good at hiding things!"

"We try." Evie said with a smirk.

"Oh! I almost forgot." Amy said, hitting her forehead with the heel of her palm. "The Doctor sent me to find you. He thinks he's figured it out."


	8. Good Plan

The three women re-entered the Oval Office just in time to hear President Nixon answer the phone. Silently they crossed the room to stand beside Rory, listening intently to what was being said.

"_Hello? This is President Nixon._"

"_It's here._" The child said on the other end of the phone. The recording machine that had been attached to the phone allowed the others in the office to hear what was being said as well as the President. Now they heard the voice, Evie agreed with the Doctor and Canton – it was definitely a girl. "_The spaceman's here. It's gonna get me; it's gonna eat me!_"

Rory, Amy, Evie and River all exchanged wary glances, the mention of the spaceman sending their minds back to the astronaut that had shot the older Doctor at the lake. He, obviously not knowing about the event, was not bothered by such thoughts and jumped into action at once, grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair and putting it on. The others followed his hint and raced into the TARDIS ahead of him.

"_There's no time for a SWAT team; let's go!_" He cried urgently. "_Mr President, tell her help's on the way. Canton, on no account follow me into this box and close the door behind you._"

Evie and River were leaping around the console, getting the TARDIS ready to go wherever the Doctor had decided they needed to be. They barely registered Canton rushing inside and the doors closing, before the Doctor set the coordinates and pulled the flight lever. The familiar whooshing sound filled their ears, Evie heard her mother mutter about the Doctor always leaving the breaks on and they hurtled through the Vortex.

"_Jefferson isn't a girl's name. It isn't her name, either._" The Doctor announced as he, River, Evie and Amy attended to the controls, keeping the TARDIS under control. Canton was staring around the TARDIS in total shock, while Rory hovered beside him supportively, remembering what the initial shock of entering the bigger-on-the-inside box was like. "_Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton… River?_"

"_Surnames of three of America's founding fathers._" She replied instantly, showing off her intelligence effortlessly.

"_Lovely fellows; two of them fancied me._" The Doctor informed them with a grin.

"Why?" Evie asked in mock surprise, making her face as innocent as she could manage while resisting the urge to grin at him. He pretended to be hurt for a moment, before whirling off and continuing with his lecture.

"_You see, the President asked the child two questions; where are you and who are you? She was answering where. Now… where would you find three big, historical names in a row like that?_" He asked. Evie assumed it was a mainly rhetorical question, so didn't bother answering.

"_Where?_" Amy asked, evidently less able to stay quiet.

"_Here!_" He replied with a grin, putting the brakes on abruptly and jolting them almost off their feet. Then he ran towards the doors. "_Come on!_"

The women followed him, River pulling out her mini-computer as she went. They stopped abruptly as the Doctor almost ran straight into Canton, who was standing rooted to the spot, completely transfixed by the time machine. River put out an arm to stop her daughter, who had jumped down the steps in one leap, slamming into the back of Amy and knocking the red-head over.

"_It's… errr…_" Canton started, but the Time Lord was in too much of a hurry to deal with the usual 'it's bigger on the inside' speech.

"_Are you taking care of this?_" He asked Rory. Without waiting for an answer, the Doctor pushed past the man and leapt out of the TARDIS. Evie and River followed him quickly, leaving Amy to give Rory a quick peck on the cheek and followed the three of them seconds later.

"_Where are we?_" She asked, looking around the office type room they'd landed in.

"_About five miles from Cape Kennedy Space Centre._" The Doctor informed her, sitting comfortably in a chair at the desk and waving a miniature American flag energetically. River was scanning the building for life forms or trying to pick up any hint of technology or something along those lines. Her daughter was rifling through the papers on the desk, looking for any hints as to what might be happening. They seemed to be a mixture of papers referring to some kind of car dealership which had obviously been what the building had been used for. Underneath them, however, she spotted an almost blank sheet of paper that caught her attention. "_It's 1969; the year of the moon. Interesting, don't you think?_"

"_But why would a little girl be here?_" Amy asked, shining her torch directly into Evie's eyes and making her flinch. "Sorry…" She muttered apologetically as the younger girl frowned at her.

"No worries." Evie told her with a shrug, picking up the piece of paper that had caught her attention and showing it to River who had joined her behind the desk. Only one word was written on it; NASA. Raising her eyebrows, the older woman picked up the telephone receiver and held it to her ear. She shot it a confused look and mouthed 'it's dead' to her daughter. Furrowing her eyebrows, Evie took the receiver and held it against her own ear. Sure enough there was no dialling tone. So how had the little girl phoned the President?

"_I dunno…_" The Doctor said slowly, answering Amy's question after a long pause as he considered what to say. "_Lost maybe? The President asked the girl where she was and she did what any lost little girl would do. She looked out of the window._"

While he was talking, the Doctor had walked over to the window and was peering through the blinds at the street outside. Curiously, Evie moved to the other window in the room and parted the horizontal blinds with her hand, staring outside to see what he was looking at. The sign just outside caught her attention at once; 'Jefferson Street', 'Adams Street' and 'Hamilton Avenue'. The names of three different streets all pointing in different directions attached to a metal pole. It was no wonder the little girl had said what she had.

"Oh!" She exclaimed. "She read the street names."

"_Streets!_" Amy repeated glancing at her open-mouthed. "_Of course! Street names._"

"_The only place in Florida, probably all of America, with those three street names on the same junction._" He announced, turning to look at the three women, leaning against the wall with a satisfied smile on his face. "_And Doctor Song, you've got that face on again._"

"_What face?_"

"_The 'he's hot when he's clever' face._"

"_This is my normal face._"

"_Yes it is._"

"_Oh… shut up!_" River said, smirking and walking past him to leave the office.

The Doctor smirked and followed her. "_Not a chance._"

Evie, who had moved around the room while they were flirting to stand beside Amy in an attempt to distract herself rolled her eyes. She turned to the red-head, looking disgusted and spoke in a low voice. "Oh god… they've started again. Sometimes I just want to kill her!"

Amy laughed and they left the office, moving into the darkness to explore the larger room outside. It was huge and old and looked completely abandoned. Judging from the debris left lying around this was some kind of workshop. River was still using her device to scan the area. They walked cautiously, careful not to walk into anything or trip on the rubble on the ground. The only light they had was the light that was produced by Amy's torch.

"_It's a warehouse of some kind… disused._" River told them, glancing at the readings in her hand.

"_You realise that this is almost certainly a trap, of course?_" The Doctor asked, not sounding remotely worried by this realisation. Amy and Rory exchanged a glace, but Evie hadn't expected anything less.

Neither, apparently, had River because she remained completely calm when she spoke. "_I noticed the phone, yes._"

"_What about it?_" The red-head demanded, her voice slightly panicky.

"_It was cut off. So how did the child phone from here?_"

"Obviously she didn't use that phone." Evie pointed out, stating the obvious.

"_OK… but why would anyone want to trap us?_" Amy asked. Evie giggled.

"Why do they ever want to trap us?" She asked, throwing a meaningful glance at the Doctor, who looked affronted at the unuttered accusation behind her words. River laughed as well. "Who is it that always gets us into tricky situations?"

"_Dunno…_" The Time Lord told Amy, choosing not to lower himself by providing Evie with a reaction for once. "_Let's see if anyone tries to kill us and work backwards._"

Sarcastically Evie nodded. "Good plan."

"Well it's the best we've got." The Doctor retorted as they made their way further into the darkness.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Can you imagine how awkward that must be for Evie? Hearing her mother flirting with the Doctor… who may or may not be her father?<strong>_

_**Review and make her feel better about the flirting (which I personally really rather like!) :D**_

_**Oh… and another random note for you… I typed Evie into Wikipedia and it came up with a song called Evie, but what the page actually said was: Evie (Song). I am officially taking this as some kind of sign. For what, I'm not sure… but it's definitely a sign. **_


	9. I Am Not A Child!

They suddenly found themselves in an area that was full of technology. River identified it as non-terrestrial and almost definitely not even from the time zone. Running her hands over some kind of operating table, complete with restraining straps, Evie had to agree with the woman's assumptions. Carefully she examined some of the wiring that was connected to it, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. She was no expert, and she couldn't be completely sure, but there seemed to be a jumble of different technologies all mixed together.

"Evie, look at this…" River called, drawing her attention to yet more wiring, this time covered in some kind of slime. The girl wrinkled her nose in disgust as she examined it, handing it back to River to scan with her device. "Any ideas?"

"Nope… I've never seen anything like this… but there seems to be more than one type of tech here. Like they've been gathered and combined?"

"Hmm…" River murmured watching the readings on the device. "You could be right."

"_River?_" Amy said, appearing beside the two women suddenly.

"_I know what you're thinking._" River replied instantly, not looking up from the device. Evie, on the other hand, had no idea what Amy was thinking and was hoping that she was about to elaborate.

"_No, you don't._"

"_You're thinking that if we can find the spaceman in 1969 and neutralise it, then it won't be around in 2011 to kill the Doctor._" River told her. Amy's face fell and Evie knew that that had indeed been what she'd been thinking.

"_OK, lucky guess._"

"_It's only 'cos I was thinking it too._"

Evie was surprised by her mother's admission. The idea had briefly entered her own head, but then Evie had thought about it and realised that it wasn't an option. Changing time like that wouldn't do any good; in fact it might cause big problems. Surely the Doctor's death, if he was really dead, was one of those massively important fixed points in time that he was always going on about.

"_So let's do it._" Amy said pleadingly. All the emotion that she felt was displayed in her eyes.

"_It doesn't work like that. We came here because of what we saw in the future. If we try and prevent the future from happening we create a paradox._" River explained, not taking her eyes of the technology in front of her. Even as she spoke she was examining it carefully. Evie didn't think it would be tactful to point out that, in a way, the three of them were paradoxes. The tiniest of changes to any of their timelines would alter the course of their entire lives.

"_Time can be rewritten._" Amy pointed out, no doubt quoting the Doctor. Evie sighed; wishing things could be that simple.

"_Not all of it._" River argued.

"_Says who?_"

"_Who do you think?_" She replied meaningfully. Suddenly a long cable leading down underneath a manhole cover caught River's attention and she moved towards it carefully. "_What's this?_"

"_We can still save him._" Amy argued, but the older woman wasn't listening anymore.

"_Doctor… look at this._" She called, attracting the Time Lord's attention. Evie gave her grandmother a quick, sympathetic squeeze on the arm before bending to examine the cable as well. River pushed the cover aside, revealing a tunnel leading… who knew where?

"_So where does that go?_" The Doctor wondered aloud, staring down into the darkness.

"_There's a network of tunnels under here._" River said, using her mini-computer to provide her with the information.

"_Life signs?_"

"_No… nothing that's showing up._"

"_Those are the worst kind._" The Time Lord said darkly. "_Be careful!_"

Evie groaned as her mother eased herself into the tunnel. Going down there was stupid and dangerous, so of course River Song would be the first one to do it. Well, mainly because she'd got there before her daughter.

"_Careful? Tried that once… ever so dull!_"

"_Shout if you get in trouble._" The Doctor ordered her. River fixed him with a mischievous look and Evie knew at once that she wouldn't like what was about to come out of her mother's mouth.

"_Don't worry; I'm quite the screamer._" She revealed, proving her daughter right. "_Now __there's__ a spoiler for you._"

As she disappeared into the darkness, Evie groaned. "Oh… god… really?"

Amy winced at her, understanding her feelings instantly.

"_So, what's going on here?_" Canton asked quietly. The Doctor looked flustered as he turned to face them. Evie felt equally flustered and found that she couldn't look him in the eye.

"_Err… nothing. She's just a friend._"

Rory leant towards him and clarified Canton's question in the Doctor's ear. "_I think he's talking about the possible alien incursion?_"

"_OK…_" The Time Lord said, embarrassed, patting both men on the shoulder and striding away. Despite the slight feeling of nausea that had churned in Evie's stomach at her mother's words and the look on the Doctor's face, she couldn't help grinning as she caught Amy's eye.

The assembled group dispersed to explore more of the warehouse. The Doctor had moved away to play with the astronaut helmets again and Rory and Canton headed back in the direction they'd come, leaving the two young women alone.

"So? You're River junior, hey?" Amy asked in a quiet, yet excited, voice.

"Mmm-hmmm…"

"It explains a lot. And I mean a LOT."

Evie glanced at her curiously. "Like what?"

"Like… your attitude and the way you treat the Doctor and how you can fly the TARDIS and how you know so much… stuff!" Amy reeled off quickly. The brunette grinned.

"I suppose so." She agreed with a shrug.

"I mean, even back as far as when the Byzantium crashed, like the very first time I met River, I could tell that there was some kind of link between you. I mean, when you –"

Evie held up her hands to stop Amy continuing. "Stop! I haven't done that yet. You can't tell me anything about it."

"Oh…" Amy looked a little confused. "So… what have you done? With me around, I mean?"

"Where do I start… judging by just looking at you, I'd say you've done the Pandorica?" Amy nodded. "The Pirates and the weird medical siren woman? Venice and the fish vampires?" Again Amy nodded. "The French Revolution? Oh… no, you knew who I was then and you've only just found out, so you can't have done that yet… That's a good one… lots of running involved, though."

"When isn't there?" Amy asked with a giggle.

"Good point!"

"So… why was River acting all weird with you earlier? I mean, she seemed really awkward at first and then really annoyed."

Evie sighed. "This River isn't… I mean… she's sixteen years behind me."

Amy screwed up her face in confusion. "Huh?"

"Well… I'm from her future and she's from my past. Her version of me is only four at the moment." Evie explained. "That's why she was acting so weird; she didn't know how to react to the fact that I'm twenty."

"Oh…" Amy smiled. "I guess that makes sense. I don't think I'd be able to deal with that either."

Evie burst out laughing, thinking about what her grandmother had just said. Unbeknownst to her, Amy was sort of dealing with that at that very moment; twice over. If only she realised the truth but, of course, it was far too early for that.

"What?" She demanded, slightly defensively, pouting at the younger girl who was still giggling.

"Nothing, don't worry about it. I just remembered something you once said… or will say. Anyway," Evie suddenly became serious, "you cannot mention this to anyone, not even Rory. You aren't supposed to know yet and it could change everything if you let it slip."

"I won't, I promise." Her grandmother said sincerely. "It's just weird; you're only a couple of years younger than me… River doesn't seem old enough. Although, I suppose you are only supposed to be four at the moment." They both grinned and then looked up as the Doctor shouted for Evie. "You go; I'll see how Canton's doing."

Evie left her, reluctantly, and went to see what the Doctor wanted. If it was something stupid like her opinion on him in an astronaut helmet she wouldn't be impressed. Then again, he'd often asked her such pointless and ridiculous questions in the past… future… whatever.

Before she reached him, however, she heard her mother shout from the hole in the ground and whirled around quickly.

"_All clear; just tunnels. Nothing down there I can see._" She told them breathlessly. For a moment Evie was worried, but then she remembered that River would have had to climb a ladder to get back up, which no doubt explained the breathlessness. "_Err… give me five minutes. I want to take another look around."_

"_Stupidly dangerous._" The Doctor told her.

"_Yep,_" River replied cheekily, "_I like it too!_"

Evie saw her mutter something to Amy, who nodded and winked, before she descended once more. A flash of jealousy shot through the brunette and she stepped towards the tunnel.

"I'm going with her." She announced.

"No." The Doctor said quickly. "I need you with me… _Rory? Would you mind going with her?_"

"_Yeah, a bit._" He answered, as though the Doctor had asked a particularly stupid question.

"_Then I'd appreciate it all the more._" The Time Lord said, patting him on the back.

Rory took a deep breath and moved slowly towards the hole. "_Hang on River, I'm coming too._" As he passed Evie, he shrugged, taking note of her extremely unimpressed expression.

"Evie?" The Doctor called, beckoning her over.

Stamping towards him, with a thunderous expression, Evie demanded. "Why did you stop me? And if you say it's because it's too dangerous…"

"Well it is!" The Doctor shot back, turning to face her.

"I am not a child!" She shouted, putting her hands on her hips. "I have never been a child!"

"You must have been." He replied calmly, putting his head on one side and scrutinising her.

"Well, yes, technically I was." She muttered, getting slightly distracted, as was his intention. Then she realised what was happening and focused. "But what I mean is I've never acted or been treated like one, especially by you, and I bloody well do NOT appreciate you starting to treat me like one now." Then, she added in a sulky grumble. "Jack never treated me like a child."

The Doctor, with his excellent hearing, caught her last words and opened his eyes wider in slight surprise. "Well… sorry. But I wasn't willing to risk it."

Evie fumed. "Risk what? You sent River and Rory down there!"

"Well yes, but River can take care of herself and Rory… well River can take care of him as well."

"I can take care of myself! What d'you think I've been doing for the past twenty years?"

"You tell me." The Doctor said challengingly. Evie stopped, staring at him. He was trying to goad her into letting something slip, but that wasn't going to happen. She smiled, immediately calming herself down.

"Nice try, but you'll need to get up earlier than that to trick me, spaceman. I'll be over there, if you need me." She pointed to the strange table that she'd examined earlier with River before stalking towards it, breathing deeply to calm herself down. One of these days she really was going to punch him.


	10. The Kiss of Life

The four of them left in the warehouse waited a long time for Rory and River to reappear; a very, very long time. Evie was in the corner, still sulking, although no one seemed to have noticed. The Doctor was rummaging excitedly through the crates that were piled around the space and Amy and Canton were exploring and talking.

"_Help me!_" A voice shouted all of a sudden, catching all of their attentions at once. "_Help! Help me!_"

Canton pulled out a tiny hand gun and Evie's laser blaster was instantly in her hands. She'd jumped off the table and was moving silently towards the sound. Once she was in line with the American she stopped, glancing sideways at him. He nodded sharply at her and they all listened intently, priming themselves ready for action.

"_It's her._" The former FBI agent muttered darkly. Raising the hand that wasn't holding his gun, Canton signalled Evie to move forwards with him. Together they went quickly towards the voice.

"_Amy?_" The Doctor called, worriedly. The young woman had stopped, doubling up and crying out in pain. In an instant both the Time Lord and her granddaughter were at her side. "_What's wrong?_ Evie, go with Canton. I've got her."

"_I need to tell you something._" Amy said urgently to the Doctor. The girl hesitated, thinking that whatever her grandmother had to say must be important.

"Evie, go!" He commanded, before focusing his attention on the red-head. Reluctant to miss hearing what Amy wanted to tell the Doctor, the brunette sprinted after Canton and the voice into the darkness. He was quite far ahead of her now and Evie slowed slightly, advancing with caution.

"_Doctor!_" She heard from somewhere ahead. It was almost too dark for her to see where she was going properly and she could only just see Canton before he rounded a corner and disappeared from sight. Attempting to follow at a run, Evie stumbled over something the ground and sprawled headlong onto the ground. Exhaling sharply, she reached up and pressed her fingers to her left eyebrow and winced as she felt a small cut. Then she scrambled to her feet as she heard Canton shout again. "_Doctor, quickly!_"

She heard a thud and a muffled groan. Warily she slowed down, pointing her gun firmly ahead of her and creeping forward. It was lucky she did slow down, because she almost ran straight into Canton's body, which was sprawled on the ground. She bent over him checking for a pulse. Relieved to feel his blood pumping against her fingers, which were pressed to his neck, she straightened up and turned to look in the direction that she'd come.

"Doctor!" She screamed. "DOCTOR!"

No sooner had the sound escaped from her mouth when something hit her hard on the back of her head, causing her to tumble to the ground beside the man and lose consciousness instantly.

x-x

Evie came round gradually, a thumping pain filling her head. She blinked her eyes several times and saw the Doctor's face inches from hers. Evie screamed, making the Doctor flinch and move quickly away.

"What were you doing?" She demanded, sitting up far too quickly and wishing she hadn't. Stars appeared in front of her eyes and her head felt as though someone had stamped on it. Pressing a hand over her eyes she groaned, feeling as though she was about to throw up. "Owww!"

"I thought I'd have to give you the kiss of life." He said stupidly.

"I was unconscious, idiot, not dying." Evie snapped, putting out a hand which he took and used to pull her to her feet. When she'd steadied herself and taken several deep breaths she looked around. "Where's everyone else?"

"Canton and Amy are over there and, as far as we know, Rory and River are still in the tunnel. Come on, we should get back."

Sliding an arm around her waist, the Doctor supported Evie over to the other two, before the four of them headed back to the hole in the ground to wait for Rory and River to reappear. The young woman sat heavily on a crate, leaning against the table behind it for support while she waited. She closed her eyes, breathing deeply.

All of a sudden, Rory shot out of the hole in the ground shouting unintelligibly and pointing down to where River was still climbing the metal ladder. At exactly the same time Canton and Amy started shouting and pointing to something at the far end of the room. Evie eyes flicked open and she screamed, leaping to her feet as she laid eyes on a tall creature in a black suit. It didn't seem to have a mouth, but a face that closely resembled the painting '_The Scream_' by Edvard Munch. The similarity was so striking that, even as she was panicking, the girl couldn't help but notice it.

"_RIVER!_" The Doctor shouted, grabbing Evie and pushing her in the direction of the TARDIS. "_COME ON!_"

"I'M COMING!" She screamed back, hauling herself up out of the hole and running after her daughter and the others.

The only person who wasn't panicking and trying to escape was Canton. "_What the hell's going on?_" He demanded, stopping and causing the Doctor to stop as well.

"_Look behind you._" The Time Lord ordered, staring over his shoulder at the creatures that were advancing slowly on them.

"_There's nothing behind me!_"

"_Look! Look!_" The Doctor urged, pointing behind Canton. The man turned slowly, his mouth falling open as he saw the tall creature standing closest to him. He seemed to be frozen. None of the others blamed him; it was horrible.

"_Canton._" The creature said. It had a low, echoing voice that made Evie's blood turn cold and hairs raise on the back of her neck. She shivered, her eyes fixed on the creature and her feet frozen to the spot.

It took a few more steps towards him and the man didn't seem to be able to move. The Doctor reached forwards and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him away after the others. As soon as Canton turned, loosing eye contact with the creature, he seemed to jolt slightly before shaking his head and turning questioningly to the Doctor.

"What…?"

"No time to explain now… RUN!"

They sprinted to the small office and into the TARDIS. The second the doors were closed River yanked the final lever into place and they whirled away into the safety of the Vortex. Sliding down the doors until he settled on his bum on the floor, the Doctor put his head in his hands. Evie, the closest to him, leapt down the steps from the console platform towards him.

Kneeling on the ground, Evie leant her cheek against his knee as she had done countless times since she was a little girl. Almost instinctively, it seemed to her, the Doctor moved one of his hands from his face and gently put it on hers. He still didn't look at her. In fact he moved the hand still covering his face over his eyes. She grinned, remembering the game they often played during her childhood, waiting for his next move.

Slowly he moved his middle and fourth fingers apart slightly so he could just peek at her between them. Evie tilted her head so that her hair fell across her face and she could only just see him.

"What are they –" Amy started, totally confused by what was going on.

River shushed her quickly, recognising the game instantly and smiling affectionately. Amy made an affronted sound, but did as she was bid, moving to lean against the railings beside the older woman. Rory joined them as well and Canton leant against the opposite side on the level below. The four watched the scene unfolding in silence.

The Doctor moved the hand that was on Evie's face to flip her dark hair away. She saw that he had concern in his eyes and she knew that he was wondering whether she was crying. The girl grinned. So did the Doctor. Then he tapped her cheek with his palm.

"Right." Evie said standing up quickly. "Sulk over? Good. What's the plan, spaceman?"

The Doctor stared at her in surprise. "How did you do that?"

"What?" She asked, smirking and turning away from him to walk back up the steps and fiddle with the TARDIS controls.

"That. Cheer me up."

"Ah… well… the baby has hidden talents."

"Doctor…" River said, breaking into the conversation and drawing his mind back to the more important things at the moment. "What do we do?"


	11. That Means Shopping!

The Doctor had divided his team into three groups; Amy and Rory, River and Evie, Canton and himself. Each group had been given their instructions and the plan had been gone over and over until the Time Lord was happy that they all knew what they were doing and what needed to happen.

Hugging the Ponds, he dropped them off in a small town in the American State of Arizona called Rock Point. They were charged with trying to find out anything they could about the creatures in the desert. Although nervous, the young couple were eager to get involved in the Time Lord's plan. As Amy said goodbye to Evie, she had a determined glint in her eye and the younger girl guessed that she was desperate to prove she was just as tough and capable as either of the other women. Evie was amused and just wished that Amy knew what she did.

Then the Doctor dropped River and Evie in New York. He wanted them to follow the same instructions as the Ponds, but in the city environment instead so that they could compare any findings. Evie was convinced that Amy and Rory would encounter more of the creatures; after all surely a load of strange, giant… things… running around in the city would attract attention? Then Evie had remembered the time she'd spent with Captain Jack Harkness at Torchwood in Cardiff. The population had known nothing about the Weevils that roamed the sewers and yet they were hardly inconspicuous when they ventured to the surface.

Thinking about Jack made her feel incredibly homesick. She'd spent a lot of time with him when she was growing up but, since the collapse of the Cardiff Torchwood a while ago, he'd seemingly vanished. Her mother had once told her that Jack would turn out to be one of the most important people in her life, but at the time the girl had dismissed it; rolling her eyes and returning her attention to helping Gwen Cooper catalogue artefacts. Now, Evie wondered what her mother had meant. Could there possibly be… have been… something between her mother and Jack? The girl doubted it but then, with River, you could never be sure.

Noticing Evie daydreaming, the Doctor decided to give them both a strict lecture about making sure they stayed focused and didn't get distracted by anything shiny or exciting – something that he himself was more likely to be guilty of – he waved goodbye and he, Canton and the TARDIS vanished. The two women glanced around to see where they were. The Doctor appeared to have dropped them off in an area that was mainly made up of shops. River beamed.

"Right…" River said, turning to her daughter. "We're here a while, yes?"

"Yes?" Evie agreed, slightly bemused.

"So we need to get ourselves settled. And," She said smiling and wrapping an arm around Evie's shoulders, "that means shopping!"

The young woman laughed, wrapping her arm around her mother's waist and allowed herself to be pulled along the street. They went into the first shop they saw. River was adamant that to be able to carry out the task effectively they needed to blend in to the background of New York Society. Evie wasn't quite so convinced, especially as it involved her mother forcing her into various dresses and high-heeled shoes.

"See…" River said, putting her hands on Evie's hips and smiling at her in the mirror. "You look gorgeous!"

Pulling a face that clearly said she disagreed, the young woman looked at her reflection. River had forced her into a hot pink and orange floral mini-dress with long, flared sleeves. In fact the sleeves were longer than the dress. She had matched it with knee-length, white PVC high heeled boots and big, white hooped earrings.

"I look like I'm wearing a curtain." She replied, raising an eyebrow. "And I clash."

"That's 60's fashion, sweetie."

"What are you getting?"

River stepped from behind her daughter and waved her hands dramatically, revealing her own outfit. "Ta DA!"

She was wearing a long sleeved dress with a white bodice and a hot pink skirt with a black and white floral print. On her feet were hot pink high heels that made Evie's eyes water just looking at the height of them. And, as much as she hated to say it, her mother could easily have passed as her sister.

"Wow!" She breathed, turning to look at her properly. River laughed, realising how much her daughter hated admiring her at the moment. "That suits you."

"Thank you, darling. Now… get changed into… she screwed up her face, looking at the clothes strewn around the changing room. "Those."

"Oh… I'm going to look like a cheerleader!" Evie complained eyeing the hot pink, flared mini-skirt and the paler, sleeveless striped top that went with it. "Why is EVERYTHING pink?"

"Because you're a pretty, girly, perky teenager!" River teased in a falsely bright voice handing her the outfit along with a matching jacket and closed-toe heeled shoes.

"I'm not a teenager." Evie snapped, grabbing them off her and unzipping the boots that she was still wearing.

Her mother sighed. "I know, but I don't look old enough to have a twenty-year-old daughter so, for the purposes of blending in, you are sixteen and I was VERY young when I had you." Evie looked scandalised at the age that her mother had slapped on her and showed her annoyance by throwing the boot she had just prised off across the changing room. "Stop it, baby! Right, when you're changed, gather up everything else and we'll go and pay."

"What with?"

"The Doctor's private stack of cash, obviously." River said, waving her purse at Evie and laughing. The curtain barely moved as the woman slipped next door to her own changing room, leaving the young woman to sulkily do as she was told.

x-x

"Thank you, Mrs Van Song." The dazed looking bell boy said, taking the twenty dollar bill and carrying the last of their shopping bags into the fancy suite River had persuaded him was theirs. He had the faint smudge of a lipstick mark on his mouth. "Good evening, Miss Van Song."

As soon as the door was closed both women squealed loudly. Evie kicked off her high heels and ran through the rooms while River made straight for the bar. The girl threw open the door to one of the bedrooms that led off the living space and screamed before running to the next door, opening it to reveal an ornate bathroom. The third door she opened revealed an identical bedroom to the first.

"Mum!" She screamed. "This is amazing!"

"Isn't it just?" River asked, beaming and taking a large gulp from the over-sized glass of gin and tonic in her hand.

"How can we afford this?"

"As I told you, sweetie, the Doctor has a secret stash of money! He wouldn't ever tell you about it, but it's there."

Evie grinned and shook her head. "I can't believe it."

"Well don't get too used to it, kid. We've got things to do; important things." Her mother said seriously. She put down the glass and walked across the room to the large window. It was beginning to get dark and one or two raindrops were forming streams down the glass. As she stood looking out at the view, more and more raindrops joined them.

"Why Van Song?" Evie asked at last, much more calmly than she'd been moments before.

"Hmm? Oh… everyone who's anyone from an old family around here has a 'Van' in their name. Lots of rich Dutch people in the past; I read it in a book. My husband was from a very old and distinguished New York family, before he died and left me a fortune, I'll have you know." River said, smirking. "It'll help us get in with the important people around here. Right then, we've got work to do."

"Already? We've literally only just got here." Evie was disappointed that she didn't get to enjoy the lavish lifestyle that had been opened up to her for even one night before they got down to following the Doctor's instructions. "And are you sure? Van Song sounds kinda stupid."

"Go and get changed, honey."

Sighing, the girl headed to where the bell boy had left the shopping bags and picked up the ones containing her things. Then she carried them to the second bedroom and closed the door. River waited, watching the door with her head on one side and smile on her face. After a moment or two, the door opened again and Evie sheepishly poked her head around the frame.

"What do I need to change into?"

She'd been waiting for that question and River laughed, making Evie clench her jaw in annoyance. She hated people getting the better of her. "We're going to a dinner party and we're going to do a bit of schmoozing."

"So? That doesn't really answer my question. What do I need to wear?" She repeated.

With a loud, sharp exhalation of breath, River pushed past her into the bedroom and started rooting through the shopping bags on the bed. She muttered under her breath, unpacking them and hurriedly smoothing out creases before hanging the clothes away in the wardrobe. Shrugging, Evie lay on the huge double bed watching her. River hadn't changed at all; if it had been the older version here, she would almost definitely be doing exactly the same thing.

Finally River selected a pink satin skirt with a dropped waist and 3 pink ruffles and the matching top, which was lime green and sleeveless. Together, her mother assured her, it would look like Evie was wearing a dress.

"Oh, goody!" She exclaimed sarcastically.

River glared. "And… ah! Here's the coat and shoes that go with it." She held up a sheer pink coat, with a satin collar and cuffs, and a pair of high, glittery pink sandals.

Evie felt as though she was about to be sick. "You are kidding me?"

"No. Put them on." River stalked out of the bedroom, closing the door firmly. Frustrated, her daughter launched one of the shoes at it, feeling satisfied as she heard a loud crack. Until her mother's voice came floating through to her. "You break it, you pay for it."

* * *

><p><em><strong>OK… so this part had a LOT of descriptions of clothes in it. It won't happen again. I promise. I just wanted to make you understand the HORROR of Evie's situation. Imagine all those dresses. So much pink!<strong>_

_**Actually, although I am probably one of the least girly girls on the planet, I do quite like 60's fashion… strange, I know.**_

_**So, anyway back to the point, the next part will have far less, if any, mention of clothes. :)**_

_**Also, I'm not gonna be able to update again until at least Friday, 'cos I'm going to stay at my friend's til then... unless I have time to update in the morning before I leave!**_


	12. Poor Little Rich Girl

The dinner party turned out to be an incredibly boring affair, full of fortune hunters old and young who had heard that a wealthy widow and her teenage daughter would be attending. How they all knew, when they'd only been in New York a matter of hours, the young woman wasn't sure. In fact, she had no idea how River had even managed to get them invited in the first place. But still, Evie had spent the entire evening fighting off the attentions of men of varying ages with long, stupid sounding names and even bigger egos. River had been doing exactly the same, but her daughter had very little sympathy because it was her fault they'd gone.

"What was the point of that?" Evie demanded, collapsing on the sofa in the living area of their suite when they arrived back in the early hours of the morning.

"Networking, sweetie." River told her, pushing the girl's legs out of her way and sitting down heavily. Removing her shoes, the woman rubbed her feet, closing her eyes as she relieved the pain that had built up in them that evening. "Making connections is incredibly important. I've already arranged a lunch date with the wife of the Mayor."

"Why? Are you hoping one of them knows all about those creatures and is going to tell you everything we need to know?" Her daughter shot back sarcastically. She was tired and grumpy, not the best combination for such an important discussion at two in the morning. "Besides, I nearly died."

Her mother laughed at her melodramatics. "What? How did you nearly die? Too much politeness? Did the strain of holding a conversation get too much?"

"No… that old guy with the massive moustache and the monocle tried to force feed me prawns. You know I'm allergic to prawns." Evie snapped.

"Since when?" River asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Since forever!" The brunette said in surprise. "How can you have forgotten? Remember when the Doctor took us to that floating restaurant on the Third Moon of Lexar for your birthday and I went purple and nearly died?"

"That hasn't happened yet, sweetie. Not for me, anyway." The woman sighed, laying a hand on her cheek. "But I'll make sure it doesn't, next time."

"Yeah, well… you'd better." Evie said grumpily. "Or I might just die to spite you."

Refusing to rise to the bait, River laughed and patted her cheek gently. "Go to bed. We'll talk in the morning when you're in a better mood."

"I'm not going to be in a better mood until I can wear my own, normal clothes again." Evie muttered, stomping towards her bedroom. Her mother just smiled.

x-x

The next morning Evie slept in. She blinked several times and it took her a minute or two to remember where she was. She worked it out when her eye fell on last night's outfit, which was strewn across the floor. Yawning, she stretched and threw back the duvet, climbing out of bed. She stepped over the clothes on the floor, rather than picking them up, padding across the carpet and out into the living area.

River's bedroom door was open, but the woman herself was nowhere to be seen. Poking her head inside, Evie saw that everything was put away neatly and in its proper place. The bed was neatly made and the curtains had been drawn and tied back with the cords. She had a huge urge to jump on the bed and mess it up, but she refrained, knowing that it would probably lead to her receiving another smack round the head.

With another yawn, she went into the bathroom and started the shower. Testing it tentatively, she swore as freezing cold water hit her hand. While she waited for it to warm up, Evie went back out into the living area and glanced around carefully. Usually she was incredibly observant; but not when she'd just woken up.

After a moment, a folded note on the coffee table caught her eye and she snatched it up eagerly.

**I've popped out to follow some leads. Call room service for breakfast and I'll be back later. We'll go out for lunch. Mum x**

Screwing up her face slightly, Evie dropped the note back onto the table and headed back to the bathroom. Lathering shampoo into her hair, the girl wondered why River hadn't woken her to tell her that she was popping out or even that they had any leads to follow. In her annoyance, she flicked soap into her eye and swore at the top of her lungs.

"Why are you crying?" She demanded of herself loudly. "It's only bloody soap."

But Evie knew that she wasn't crying because of the soap. She was crying because she'd seen the Doctor die. She was crying because he hadn't trusted her enough to do what she asked. She was crying because her Mum didn't seem to trust her either. She was crying because she didn't know what she was supposed to do. She was crying because she felt so alone.

Then she pulled herself together, giving herself a little slap on the cheek. Rinsing her hair, she put her mind to more productive thoughts. For now it was just her and River. They had no way of contacting the others until Canton 'tracked them down' three months from now. It was all carefully arranged; the where's and the how's and the why's. So, if anything went wrong with the others, they had no way of knowing until then.

If River had a lead then that was definitely a good thing. Evie had wondered how they were going to go about tracking down the creatures. Together they had discussed it and decided that they needed to find a way of keeping track of every time they had an encounter. Split seconds after you stopped looking at one of the creatures, their existence was wiped from your mind and you had no idea you'd ever seen one.

So they had come up with the idea of marking something each time they saw a creature. Rory had suggested carrying notebooks, but River had pointed out that it wasn't always convenient. Then the Doctor had suggested making knots in string, but Evie had just shot him a look and told him that it was stupid. A mini-argument had broken out, where he tried to justify his idea. In the end, they'd all agreed to think of something else, leaving the Doctor a little crestfallen and Evie feeling smug.

The simplest option seemed to be that they just marked their skin, starting with places that could be easily hidden or explained away. They all agreed on this and the Doctor handed round pens which they attached to cord so that they were able to wear them around their necks to ensure they always had them.

By the time she had thought about all of this, Evie was dressed, towelling her hair dry and feeling much more cheerful. She was even singing softly, an old lullaby her mother had sung to her as a child, as she poked silver hoops through the holes in her earlobes and fixed the watch River had bought her around her wrist to cover the tattoo she had there. Apparently tattoos didn't fit in with the image she was supposed to be portraying. Draping the towel messily over the back of the sofa, she picked up the room service menu and moved to the phone table, picking up the receiver and calling the reception.

"Hi… yes, this is Miss Van Song… Mmmhmm, in the Midnight Suite… I'd like to order breakfast, please. Well yes, I know it's nearly one, but I want breakfast." She said in the American accent she'd adopted as part of their disguise. It was probably terrible, but she'd modelled it on Captain Jack's so she hoped it was at least a little convincing. "Yes, I'd like…" her voice trailed off as she happened to glance up and see something that almost made her heart stop.

One of the creatures was standing in the suite watching her. Her breathing became more rapid as she reached up for the cord that held the pen. With a sinking heart Evie realised that she'd removed it before her shower and not put it back on. Slowly, determined not to look away, she put the telephone receiver down and stood up. She took a couple of steps closer to the creature, determined not to let it see that she was scared.

"Evie…" The creature said, its voice sending chills through the girl's bones. Evie stumbled slightly as she took a couple of steps backwards. The creature moved towards her, more quickly than she'd have imagined possible.

x-x

There was a loud buzzing and a crackly voice sounded through the receiver of the telephone, making Evie jump. "Hello? Hello? Miss Van Song? We've been trying to call back for a while. Are you there?"

Glancing over her shoulder to the table where she'd left the receiver, the girl felt an odd rushing sensation in her head before wondering why she was staring in that direction. She snatched it up quickly, jamming it to her ear.

"Yes, sorry… breakfast. I'd like toast, bacon, two eggs… fried, but with hard yolks – I can't stand them runny… and a pot of coffee. Thanks." The brunette decided she could really enjoy playing the role of poor little rich girl.

She put the phone down and moved to pick up the strange necklace, slipping it over her head and clutching the pen tightly. The girl couldn't work out why she felt like she'd forgotten something. But she shook her head dismissing the thought and settled herself on the sofa with a magazine, waiting for her breakfast to be delivered.


	13. Two Heads Are Better Than One

When River walked back into the suite later that afternoon – too late to take her daughter out for lunch – she was expecting to be greeted by Evie looking incredibly annoyed, at the very least. What the woman was actually greeted with was the sight of her daughter stretched out on the sofa, apparently fast asleep. The remnants of her room service breakfast were still in evidence on the tray balanced on the coffee table in front of her. Shaking her head, River wondered how the young woman could still be tired considering as Evie had still been asleep when she'd left the flat at half past ten and had probably not woken up for a while after that.

Crouching down beside her, River placed a hand gently on her daughter's head, stroking her hair affectionately. While she was sleeping, the woman had the chance to study Evie closely. She'd often wondered what her daughter would look like when she grew up and now she could see. As a small child, Evie had looked a lot like her father; they'd had the same hair and eye colour and the same face shape. She had, though, had the same wild curls as her mother.

But now, at twenty, everything about Evie's appearance had softened. Her hair might still be dark and curly, but it was no longer almost black and sticking out in wild, corkscrew curls. Instead it was a rich, chocolate brown and fell softly around her shoulders in much larger, looser curls. River was sure that her eyes, too, had changed from a light, almost greyish, blue to an almost turquoise colour. Even her face shape had changed, becoming slightly rounder and less angular.

Sighing, River wondered whether she should wake her. Evie looked so peaceful lying on the sofa. But then she did need to speak to her, so she'd have to wake her.

"Evie…" She said softly, stroking the girl's hair again. "Come on, sweetie… wake up."

Slowly Evie's eyes fluttered open and she wriggled her nose slightly, blinking groggily. Then, without warning, she sat bolt upright, leapt off the sofa and ran to the bathroom. Bewildered River followed, holding her daughter's hair back as she was sick. After a couple of moments Evie sighed and washed her face.

"I'm staying away from that cooked breakfast in future." She said with a weak grin.

"I'm guessing you don't want to go out for lunch, then?"

The girl laughed and shook her head. When they were settled back on the sofa, Evie fixed her mother with a hard gaze. "So? Where did you go? What did you find out?"

"Not as much as I'd hoped." River confided with a sigh. "I went to an old house on the edge of town… apparently the old couple who live there are notoriously forgetful. I was talking to Mrs Van Dessen and she said that when she went there she had a strange feeling and can't really remember the visit. It just seemed too much of a coincidence…"

"But you can't remember what happened either?"

River shook her head. "No. But…" She held out her arm and her daughter instantly spotted a row of tally marks leading up underneath her sleeve. "I think we should go back together and see what we can find out."

"How's that going to help? I mean, if you can't remember, how is me not remembering as well going to help?"

"I don't know… but two heads are better than one, aren't they." River told her with a small, crooked smile. "We'll figure out a way of sorting it."

x-x

The house they arrived outside immediately set the women on edge. It was dark and ominous looking, even from the outside. It was set at the end of a long, gravel driveway behind heavy iron gates and Evie was surprised at the sheer size of it. She cast a sideways glance at her mother who had raised the catch and pushed open the gates.

"I thought you said an old couple lived here?"

"They do." River said meaningfully, raising an eyebrow at her daughter.

"Interesting…" The younger woman said, returning the look and following her mother up the driveway.

They had waited until the evening, when they knew that the couple would be out so that they could explore the house without being discovered. When River had come earlier it had been on the pretence of visiting Mr and Mrs Hilson so she hadn't been able to look thoroughly.

Carefully they entered the house, looking around nervously. The feeling of unease that Evie had got outside had doubled as soon as she stepped over the threshold. She followed River, pointing her torch into the deepest corners of the rooms as they combed the building for any hint that any of the creatures were there.

"Look!" River breathed, reaching behind her and clutching her daughter's arm.

Evie did as she was urged, seeing what her mother was staring at. Standing at the top of the grand staircase was one of the tall, black suited creatures. Evie's breath caught in her throat as River carefully drew a neat line on her arm. Something, some strange feeling, made her turn and look behind her. In front of the large double doors they'd entered through stood another of the creatures, blocking their way out.

"Mum…" Evie breathed, marking her arm carefully. "We're trapped."

River nodded. "Two more… eleven o'clock and three."

The younger woman glanced in the directions her mother had indicated. Two more of the creatures were in the positions her mother hand indicated. They just stood watching them in silence. Only one door was left unblocked; a small oak-panelled door directly ahead of the women in the wall beside the staircase. Evidently the creatures were expecting them to go through it.

"D'you think it's a trap?" Evie whispered, keeping her gaze on the monsters.

"Almost definitely."

The younger woman grinned. "What are we waiting for then?"

As one, they slid their guns from their holsters and headed confidently through the doorway. It seemed to be a small storage room of some kind. The only furniture in the room were a couple of old chairs and a wonky cabinet. In the far wall was a window, but apart from that there was no way out. After looking around carefully, Evie moved back towards the door, reaching out her hand for the doorknob.

She hadn't quite reached it, when the handle turned and the door opened slowly. River grabbed Evie by the back of her top and yanked her backwards away from the opening, moving slightly so that she was blocking her daughter a little from view. Raising her eyebrows, Evie moved so that she was standing shoulder to shoulder with her mother. Both women raised their guns as all four of the creatures entered the room.

"What do you want?" River demanded forcefully, fixing the creatures with a glare.

There were a couple of moments of silence while the monsters filed into the room and spread out in front of them. They were spaced equally along the wall, facing them with their arms dangling at their sides. Even that was threatening, Evie thought as she tightened her grip on the gun at shoulder height pointed in front of her.

"Songs…" The creature directly in front of River said, taking a step forwards. Both women stepped backwards quickly. "You will help…"

* * *

><p><strong><em>Hello sweeties :)<em>**

**_Thank you so much for all the comments! I'm back... for three days, then away again from Monday to Friday. I'll try and update everyday while I'm here, to give you something to read!_**

**_Hope you enjoy this! :)_**


	14. Torchwood

Evie tripped down the stone steps in her haste to get out of the creepy house. River wasn't far behind her, glancing over her shoulder as the door closed with a clunk that signalled a sense of finality in both women.

Shakily, the younger woman took a deep breath and smiled weakly. "Well… we might not have found anything, but I vote we never come back here… it gives me the creeps!"

"Agreed." River nodded, raising an arm to grab hold of her daughter and pull her quickly along the path. She stopped, staring at her arm where pen marks were clearly visible. "We obviously ran into some of them, though."

"It just feels so pointless." Evie sighed. "We can hunt these things for months and years, but we can't remember anything about them. How is this helping anything?"

"We have to find a way to remember." Her mother said firmly.

"What? D'you want me to take notes? Shall I bring a notebook and whip it out when we see them?" The young woman suggested sarcastically. "Or shall I just…"

Evie's mouth opened as cogs turned in her mind. Something had suddenly occurred to her that she hadn't even considered before. It made so much sense, so the young woman couldn't believe it had only just occurred to her.

"What?" River demanded, grabbing her daughter's arm in alarm.

"Vortex Manipulator." She breathed. "The microphone… If we can hook it up to the TARDIS then we can relay the recordings back and store them there until we meet up with the Doctor and the others."

River's eyes widened with hope. "Can you do that?"

"I think so… I mean… It'll take some work and I might need a little time and some help…"

"Who from?"

"Ideally the Doctor… but seeing as that isn't an option at the moment then the person who gave this to me might be the best bet."

"Who… Jack?" River asked. Evie nodded and smiled. "I was wondering where you'd got it from. Honestly… that man encourages your behaviour; I swear he thinks it's funny!"

"He probably does." The young woman agreed, examining the device on her wrist carefully. River had tutted at her for wearing it, but now she was glad Evie had ignored her. "I dunno where Jack is though… since that thing with the 456 and the end of Torchwood…"

"What?" River breathed. Evie mentally kicked herself.

"I keep forgetting your sixteen years behind me… long story short – which I probably shouldn't tell you anyway – there was this thing with the children and a race called the 456. It got sorted, but Torchwood was destroyed. Jack and Gwen are the only ones from Torchwood Three left now." She sighed, thinking of the others that she'd known. "But that's not important at this exact moment in time."

"No… OK." Her mother agreed with a nod. "Torchwood here we come."

"You're coming?" Evie sounded surprised, catching her mother's attention.

"Of course, why?"

"Well… the future River tends to avoid visiting Torchwood. I have no idea why because you won't tell me."

"Oh… well… I'll find out at some time, I'm sure, but right now I have no problem with Jack or Torchwood, so let's go." River said firmly. Evie shrugged and set the coordinates for Cardiff Bay just before the events that lead to the downfall of the hub.

x-x

"Well look who it is!" Jack laughed as the two women descended into the Torchwood hub. The younger woman leapt off the platform before it reached the ground and flung her herself into the man's waiting arms. He spun her round, not seeming to pay any attention to the fact that she was a fully grown, twenty-year-old and not the five-year-old she had once been. "Evie Song!"

"Hey, Jack." Evie said grinning and pulling herself out of his bear grip. "How're things?"

"Not too bad… bit too quiet really. Hang on... GWEN? IANTO?" At his shouts the remaining members of the Torchwood team appeared from wherever they'd been hiding. Ianto smiled and patted the girl fondly on the shoulder before hurrying off to make drinks. Gwen hugged the girl tightly before holding her at arm's length and scrutinising her appearance. Evie laughed and brushed the woman's words aside, her attention focusing on her mother.

"I should probably explain things a little…" She said quickly noticing the way Jack was looking at River, who was staring back in obvious confusion. "OK… it's quite difficult to explain… I'm not the right Evie for her River, and she's not the right River for my Evie."

Gwen nodded. "Yep, that's confusing."

"Well… I'm sixteen years ahead of Mum. We got called to do something by the Doctor… Mum had just left the four-year-old me behind with my grandparents and I left my Mum in Stormcage."

"Gotcha!" Jack said nodding. Then he smiled at River. "I haven't seen you in a while, doll…" River, evidently more comfortable now things had been explained, walked towards him slowly. He opened his arms and she hugged him tightly. "It's been too long."

"I've got a favour to ask." Evie said, whirling round on the chair that used to be where Tosh sat.

"I thought there would be something." Jack laughed, leaning against the railings that ran around the room, one arm slung loosely around River's shoulders. The woman elbowed him in the ribs, making him grin even more.

Evie pointed at the Vortex Manipulator on her wrist. "I need you to help me connect this to the TARDIS data banks."

"Why?" Gwen asked glancing across at her from her position perching on her desk to Evie's left. "We can get you any information you need from here."

Grinning at the kind-hearted Welsh woman, Evie shook her head. "Thanks, but we need to be able to send audio files from the Vortex Manipulator to the TARDIS so we can retrieve them later."

"Throw it here…" Jack said, removing his arm from River's shoulder and holding out his hands. Quickly, the young woman undid the strap and threw the device across the hub. The man scrutinised it carefully for a couple of moments. "It can take a while, but I can do it. When did you get this?"

Furrowing her brow, Evie thought. "You gave it to me… Don't you remember? I was nineteen…"

Jack shrugged. "I don't remember and this… this is future tech… obviously I haven't given it to you yet."

"It's hard to tell with you… you always look the same; ever since I was a kid." She told him, shrugging as well. "So can you sort it for me? It's kinda important."

Not even answering, the Captain wandered off to his office with the Vortex Manipulator leaving the three women alone in the hub. Ianto appeared with the coffees and the four settled down for a chat. River had stopped coming to the Torchwood hub just after Gwen had started there and, for this River, she'd never met Gwen at all. It was a strange conversation from Evie's perspective, listening to the two women chatting as though they'd known each other all their lives.

In the end she wandered off to explore the vaults. Three of the cells contained weevils and the rest were empty. Long ago she'd learnt to stay back from the glass, but still she couldn't stop herself standing close and putting one hand on the glass, pressing her fingertips into it. The weevil behind the door jumped forwards towards her, but Evie didn't even flinch.

"Sorry, love." She told the creature firmly. "You'll have to do better than that to freak me out."

The creature retreated to the back of the cell slowly, still watching her as though it was suspicious. Briefly she wondered just how dangerous the weevil was; how long would it take for it to kill her if she walked into the cell. Then she shook her head, appalled at herself for even thinking about it.

Giving the creature one final look, she returned to the main part of the hub, where Gwen and River were laughing at something or other. Ianto shot her a look and rolled his eyes, making the young woman smile. Sometimes she wasn't sure whether she liked the man or not… he just seemed a little… wimpy. Evie was used to being surrounded by incredibly strong – sometimes stupidly so – people; her mother, the Doctor, Jack, her grandparents. Perhaps this was why Ianto, with his quietly calm approach, struck her as weak.

Making her mind up to be less judgemental, Evie made her way over to him. Together they worked through the files Jack had requested Ianto look over. They finished much quicker than the man would have done on his own and he smiled, gratefully.

"Thanks, Evie." He said, heading to the small kitchen area to make another round of coffees for the team. "D'you know, I always thought you didn't like me much."

The young woman blushed, not having realised that he'd guessed. Ianto laughed.

"Sorry…" Evie apologised. "It wasn't so much that I didn't like you… I just didn't understand you." She explained, telling him what she'd just realised. He nodded understandingly.

"It's not always the best thing," He said simply, "rushing in with guns and determination; someone has to stay calm and think rationally." Evie nodded thinking that he was right. "Come on… let's get these drinks made. If Jack's working he'll need some caffeine!"


	15. No Time For Sightseeing

It took the rest of the day for Jack to finish the modifications to the Vortex Manipulator and a further half hour to explain what he'd done and how Evie could control the device. Then he'd tried to persuade the mother and daughter to stay a while longer with them. They refused, needing to get back to 1969 and their hunt for the sinister creatures.

"You know, you should really sort out whatever happened between you and Mum." Evie told Jack quietly as she hugged him goodbye. They broke apart, looking across at where River and Gwen were still laughing.

"I don't know how." Jack admitted softly, taking the young woman's hand in his and holding it tightly.

"It can't be that bad, surely?"

"River never told you?"

Evie shook her head. "Nope. She said it was between you and her, nothing to do with me and she didn't want our relationship to be affected because of it."

As they stood side by side with their hands still clasped, River glanced across at them. She smiled fondly before returning her attention to Gwen, who she hugged tightly. Then she walked towards Jack and her daughter.

"Are we ready?" She asked, looking Evie dead in the eyes. The younger woman nodded, moving away to say goodbye to Gwen and Ianto herself, leaving Jack and her mother to say goodbye privately.

"See you later, kid." Ianto said, hugging her. Evie hugged him back, tightly. She didn't think she'd ever hugged the man before; the closest they got was a semi-awkward wave. As he held her close, Evie couldn't stop thinking about the fact that, in a few short weeks, the man in front of her would be dead. It was almost a relief when he let go and Evie was able to bury her head in Gwen's shoulder.

"Look after yourselves, yeah?" She told them, suggesting that her tone was more of an order than a request. They both nodded and watched as she returned to her mother's side. "Mum?"

River tore her eyes away from Jack's face and smiled. "Let's get out of here."

x-x

Evie transported them straight into their hotel suite. It was late when they arrive and River ordered them both to bed, to make sure they were rested and able to get on with their task the next morning.

When they woke up – River dragging her daughter out of bed much earlier than the younger woman would have liked, they checked the date on the newspaper that had been delivered into the room that morning. It was only then that they realised they had been gone three weeks.

"You're as good at getting to the right time and place as the Doctor." River accused her daughter, dropping onto the sofa and rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"Sorry…" Evie muttered, banging the Vortex Manipulator with the heel of her palm. "Something's obviously gone wrong with it since Jack connected it to the TARDIS. It was fine before."

"Well, as long as the recording part works you can get the teleportation part fixed later." Her mother said simply, putting her gun into her handbag and fluffing up her hair slightly in the mirror.

Evie rolled her eyes. "We're going on a hunt for alien creatures and you're worried about your hair?"

"Of course, sweetie." River said calmly. "I'm always worried about my hair… it's my best feature."

"Mmmm…" The young woman said, grabbing her own bag and shoving her laser blaster inside, covering it with a jacket.

They headed out, taking no notice of the surprised faces of the receptionists and bell boys they passed on their way. Obviously everyone thought that something must have happened to the women, since they'd left everything they had in the suite and vanished for three weeks. River lazily handed a twenty dollar bill to the doorman as she passed.

"Where are we heading?" Evie asked, glancing up the busy street. People were walking past them; some purposefully and some ambling along casually.

A strange, glazed look crossed River's face for a second. "I think we should go to the Empire State Building."

"Why?" Her daughter asked, wrinkling her nose up at the thought. It wasn't so much that she didn't want to go; it was just quite random.

"I… I'm not sure?" River replied, shaking her head slightly to get rid of the fuzzy feeling. "I just…"

Evie sighed. "Alright, alright." Sticking her arm out, she hailed a cab. "The lift better be working this time 'cos I ain't climbing the stairs again. I still haven't forgiven the Doctor for that one."

"It wasn't his fault." River said with a sigh.

"How was it not his fault? It was him who blew the lift up, wasn't it?"

"Well… yes. But he was only…"

"Trying to get it to go faster, I know."

The cab journey seemed to take forever. Finally it dropped them outside the iconic building. River paid the driver, almost as though she was on autopilot and they went in. Flashing her own Psychic Paper, River led Evie to the service lift that went right to the top and pressed the button to take them to the 102nd floor. Ignoring her daughter's questioning looks, she stared straight ahead until the lift finally stopped and they walked out.

The 102nd floor, as it turned out, was an observatory. Interestedly, Evie took a look around, exploring the room thoroughly. The views from the windows were breath-taking, but the girl knew they had no time for sightseeing.

"So? What's the plan?" She asked leaning her elbows on a table beside her.

River glanced over her shoulder, tearing her gaze from the view out of the window. "We need to get up there." She pointed upwards. Evie frowned.

"What d'you mean?"

"At the top of the building is a 62m spire, on which are broadcast antennas." She rummaged around in her bag and pulled out a small, rectangular device with a flashing red light on the top. "We need to fix this onto that spire."

"Why?" Evie asked, wondering why River hadn't told her about this before and why she was acting so distractedly.

Again, River looked at her, almost in confusion. "I… don't know. We just… have to."

"Mum… I don't know if we should."

"We have to."

"But why?" She had a nagging feeling, somewhere in her mind that someone had told her to do something, but she couldn't think what it was.

"I can't remember!" River snapped, crossing to the bolted door and fiddling with the locks. Within minutes she'd opened it and the pair stared out at the skyline in front of them. "Hold this."

As River thrust the device into her daughter's hands, a curious fuzzy feeling flooded her mind and suddenly the idea of fixing that box to the mast seemed like the right thing to do. Glancing down at the object in her hands, Evie noticed that the wiring wasn't completely finished. Deftly, she manipulated the thin wires into their correct positions and was rewarded by a faint buzzing sound, a click and then the blinking red light sped up to twice the rate it had been flashing before.

"What did you do?" River demanded accusingly, noticing that it had changed.

"I fixed it." The younger woman said simply.

"What is it?" River asked, pulling herself onto a ledge and balancing precariously over the edge. Evie's heart leapt into her mouth and she looked down at the device so she didn't have to watch her mother's progress towards the spire.

"It's some kind of signal blocking device." She said, examining it closely. "But why do we need to attach it to the antennas? What's the point?"

Her mother shrugged, shuffling further towards the mast. She was almost there, slipping past the railings and clinging to the metal pole tightly.

The younger girl was examining the device again, a niggling feeling in the back of her mind. Why did they have to do this? Who had told them to? And where had they got the device from? It was definitely alien tech… and something about that realisation was making everything inside Evie scream that this wasn't a good idea.

Making a split second decision, Evie flipped open the casing once more and tugged one of the wires out of place, causing the red light to stop blinking. The curious humming sound that the box had been emitting stopped as well and the girl knew that she had disabled it. As she secured the casing back into place, the heavy feeling that had settled on her lifted.

"Pass me the device." River called down.

Taking a deep breath, Evie shuffled out onto the ledge and followed the route her mother had taken until she was near enough to hand the box over. Her heart felt as though it would explode through her chest as she happened to glance down and catch sight of the ground below her. Evie knew enough about the Empire State Building to be aware that right the taxi cabs she could see moving like ants were 381m below her. Her stomach flipped over as the fact ran through her mind and she quickly dismissed it. After everything she'd seen and done it didn't make sense that she was scared of heights.

"Here…" She gasped, leaning forwards to pass the device to her mother.

"It's stopped flashing?" River said, glancing at Evie. The girl nodded.

"I know… I think that means it's on standby or something." She lied guiltily. She waited as her mother attached the box to the mast before they both retreated inside. Then the girl put her arms around River, burying her head in her hair and closing her eyes. "Can we go now?"

River seemed slightly taken aback by her daughter's actions. There was a momentary pause, before she wrapped her arms tightly around the girl and sighed, making both of them judder slightly. She didn't answer, but Evie felt her nodding her head wearily.


	16. Do You Trust Me?

When they got back to the suite, neither of them had any idea where they'd just been or what had happened. Over the next weeks, they continued to have huge gaps in their memories where they didn't know what had happened. Despite this, River and Evie continued to live their pretend life, enjoying themselves immensely. In between tracking down the creatures, they attended dinner parties and parties and other social gatherings with the other people around them who were considered to be 'their sort'. It amused Evie intensely that these people knew absolutely nothing about them, but were more than happy to believe whatever they were told as long as it made the women sound interesting and, more importantly, rich.

The girl realised what her mother had meant when she warned her about turning down all kinds of proposals during a party at the town house of one Mr Edmund Bale, about two months into their investigation. It was no secret that the man was suffering from financial trouble and everyone also knew that he had his eye on the wealthy young widow, Mrs River Van Song.

Throughout the evening he kept plying River with glasses of champagne until she was decidedly worse for wear. Evie was doing her best to avoid the advances of a rather drunk young man named Hunter Van der Kean and therefore lost sight of her mother for a while. When, finally, she was safe to return to the main ball room, Evie looked everywhere for River and was eventually told that she'd been seen heading in the direction of the library.

Cursing the woman under her breath, Evie set off in search, the warning ringing in her ears as she went. Throwing open a door, the girl immediately saw her mother, stretched out on a sofa with Mr Bale advancing on her.

"Mr Bale!" She said in a loud, panicky voice. "It seems that my mother has drunk too much, so I should get her home."

"No need." The man said, turning and fixing her with a disappointed expression. Clearly she had just interrupted before anything had happened and the girl was incredibly relieved.

"I'd say there was every need." Evie snapped, her eyes flashing dangerously. Pushing him aside, she pulled River from the sofa and half carried, half dragged her towards the door. Then she shot him a glare. "I'd be extremely grateful if you'd call a cab, thanks."

After that event, Evie had felt superior for a long time. River was incredibly embarrassed and stayed away from both champagne and Mr Bale. The last month of their time in New York was when they found out the bulk of their information about the creatures. River had decided they should put most of their energy into their task, rather than their social lives.

They cornered one of the creatures in a deserted aircraft hangar outside the city and River forced it to answer her questions, while Evie recorded the conversation on her Vortex Manipulator, sending it straight through to the TARDIS before she forgot. Hopefully they would pick it up when they got back.

But even this didn't give them much to work on. They now knew that they had been on Earth since the human race began and that they used their abilities to control certain aspects of the humans' lives. But they didn't know anything else. The creature hadn't been particularly forthcoming with information.

Finally the night arrived when the two women were supposed to be caught up with by Canton and his men. Fresh from an engagement party, where both women had avoided several drunken proposals of their own, River and Evie made their way to the building where they were due to be found.

It was swarming with the creatures. Seemingly everywhere they looked the creatures appeared. As Evie made her way carefully through the dark building behind her mother she kept the pen from around her neck clutched tightly in her hands and ready for action.

"I can see you." Evie said, inking three lines on her skin for the three creatures that had emerged from the darkness and were staring down at her. "I can."

"Evie?" River's voice was slightly panicked, as it always was when she lost sight of her daughter in situations such as this.

The girl glanced over her shoulder towards the sound of her mother's voice and when she looked back she was alone. Glancing down at her arm, Evie quickly counted forty-six marks. She sighed and headed towards River, who was scanning for life forms even though they both knew it was completely pointless as the race didn't register.

"Come on, Mum." She murmured, keeping her eyes wide and looking around carefully. "We're only on the second floor and there's at least sixty more to explore. Besides, we don't want to make it too easy for Canton and his boys, do we?"

River laughed and followed her daughter through the darkness and plastic sheeting and metal and rubble. It was pretty much a building site and the women had to be careful where they were putting their feet. Dressed, as they were, in posh dresses and stupidly high-heels, Evie was terrified that she, if not River as well, was going to fall and break a bone or two.

"Here…" The older woman grabbed her daughter's arm and pulled her towards a ladder that led up through a hole in the ceiling to the floor above.

"What? Are you kidding me? There aren't even stairs from now on up?"

Shrugging, River started to climb. "At least we're not making it too easy for Canton and his boys, are we?" She asked in amusement, quoting the brunette. Evie rolled her eyes smirking, before her eyes fixed on another couple of creatures stepping out of the shadows.

"Hurry up on that ladder, we've got company." She called, shaking as she drew another two marks on her arm. However many times she saw the creatures she was still as terrified as she had been the first time. She supposed that was down to forgetting what they looked like and how they made you feel when you were looking at them. It was a horrible sensation and Evie dreaded it.

"Quickly then, sweetie!" River urged, reaching the top and looking around the dark floor nervously. She held up her scanner once more, out of habit more than any useful reason, trying to detect life forms.

"Why?" Evie asked, confused, appearing through the floor.

River sighed, knowing there was no point going over it again. They'd tried reminding each other of seeing them before, but it had just ended in confusion and both of them getting more and more scared. "Just hurry."

By the time they'd reached the tenth floor, Evie had run out of room on her left arm. By the twentieth floor both her arms were covered. At the fiftieth floor Evie was considering moving onto her face. Despite the fact that she was wearing a mini-dress, she was rapidly running out of flesh to mark. But that didn't mean they were running out of creatures to account for.

"_I see you._" River said, breathing quickly and marking her arm. Pressing her back into her mothers, Evie marked her neck and trembled at the same time. "_I see you._"

"_Doctor Song!_ Evie!" A familiar voice called from somewhere behind all the plastic sheeting. River whirled around and grabbed at Evie's hand. "Evie! _Doctor Song!_"

"Showtime." Evie muttered, gritting her teeth and preparing herself for what was about to happen next. She and River turned back again to face the tall, suited things, but all they could see was plastic sheeting billowing in the breeze.

Feeling the fuzzy feeling entering their heads once more, they both took a deep breath and River pulled Evie across the floor. They ripped their way through the plastic hanging from the ceiling, shaking with fear, adrenaline and anticipation.

"_Go, go, go!_" Canton shouted at his men. Immediately the women heard footsteps pounding after them.

Despite what River had tried to convince her daughter, it was not easy to run in high heels and Evie twisted her ankle as they neared the open edge of the floor. She limped as fast as she could, her mother still dragging her by the hand.

"Are you kidding me?" Evie muttered, realising what her mother's plan was.

"Do you trust the Doctor?" River asked quickly.

"Always." Her daughter said sincerely, nodding.

"And do you trust me?"

"Forever."

River smiled. "Then it'll be fine." She promised. "But I'm not pulling you with me, you'll have to jump. Or fall. Whichever you prefer."

"_Don't move!_" Canton ordered, aiming a gun at them. They made their expressions as terrified as they could, which didn't really take much effort as they were both quite scared anyway, as they turned away from each other to face him. He smiled as they backed nearer to the edge, breathing quick, shallow breaths. "_It's over._"

"_They're here, Canton._" River said, showing him the marks on her arms. Evie copied her, putting on a pleading expression. "_They're everywhere._"

"_I know, America's being invaded._"

"_You were invaded a long time ago!_" The woman informed him angrily. "_America is occupied._"

"You have to believe us!" Evie chipped in.

"_You're coming with us, Doctor Song._ You too…" He trailed off slightly, not knowing her surname. Then he had a thought, remembering the Doctor's joke about codenames. "Miss Robinson." Luckily none of the FBI agents with him had been in the Oval Office that night and understood. Evie had to work hard to keep her face under control; she was dying to laugh or at least smile at his choice of surname for her. "_There's no way out this time._"

River smiled weakly and shot a sideways glance at her daughter, who smiled back. "_There's always a way out._" She told him, raising her arms and falling backwards through the night air. Evie copied her, although nowhere near as gracefully.

Canton rushed forwards and shot the women a shocked expression as the wind whooshed past them and they hurtled towards the ground. Evie glanced sideways and smiled at River, who winked at her before flipping so that she was headfirst in a diving position. Understanding at once, Evie curled her legs up, wrapping her arms around them and shutting her eyes tightly just in time to bomb into the swimming pool in the library.


	17. Who Wants to be Predictable?

"Towel?" Amy asked, as Evie broke the surface of the swimming pool, coughing and spluttering. Nodding, the brunette scraped her sopping hair off her face as she slowly paddled through the water to the side. River was already hauling herself out of the pool, with the Doctor's hand as an aid.

"You two sure know how to make an entrance." Canton said, raising an eyebrow.

"We don't like to disappoint." River replied with a smirk. "Besides, who wants to be predictable?"

The Doctor pulled a face and made an impatient growl. "Yes, yes. We can talk about how great you are later."

"If you like, sweetie." The woman replied casually. "But I really would like to dry myself off and get changed first."

Blushing, the Time Lord waved his arms in the air, signalling she was free to go and sort herself out. Amy grinned at Evie as River stalked past him, flicking her hair out as she passed and showering the Doctor with droplets of water. He let out a high pitched shriek of annoyance, which made the two young women glance at each other before bursting into giggles.

"Oh… stop it!" He snapped sulkily.

"Sorry, darling." Evie said in her American accent, sounding incredibly ditzy. "I'm a socialite now; it's my job to giggle inanely. That and discuss dresses and weddings."

Batting her eyelids and flipping her hair, showering the Doctor once again, she stalked after her mother out of the library and heading towards her bedroom. Then she stopped in the middle of the corridor and pulled a face. She had just realised that, since River was on board the TARDIS as well, the room no longer belonged to her… it was her mother's bedroom. Now what was she supposed to do. Presumably all her clothes would still be in the wardrobe and she'd have to go and collect them, if nothing else.

"Hey?" Amy called walking along the corridor towards Evie, who was kicking off her stilettoes as she contemplated her next move. "What's wrong?"

"I've kinda lost my bearings… seeing as Mum's on the TARDIS too now… I don't know where I'm supposed to be going." She admitted slightly embarrassed. Amy smiled.

"Come on, I'll show you."

Evie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Huh?"

"The last time you were here you had a different bedroom. I guess that hasn't happened for you yet. But the good thing is I can show you the way."

She linked her arm through Evie's and started pulling her along the corridor. The brunette shook her head slightly and laughed, allowing herself to be directed through the winding burrow that was the TARDIS corridors. They stopped outside a bright green door with 'Evie' written on it in large letters.

"The TARDIS likes you, apparently." Amy said meaningfully. The younger girl pushed her gently and shook her head, knowing what the woman was getting at.

"There's no point speculating about anything because River won't budge. If she's decided something's a spoiler, then she ain't gonna tell you."

Inside, the room was practically identical to the one that was now River's, except that it had pale green walls rather than cream ones. In the centre of the far wall was a large double bed with a bedside cabinet either side and a dressing table, complete with a large mirror, stood against the wall opposite the wall length wardrobe. A rocking chair stood in one corner and in the other corner Evie was surprised to see the doll's house she'd played with at her grandparents' house as a tiny child.

"Oh…" She whispered as her eyes fell on it. Briefly she wondered how it had got here.

"What?" Amy asked nervously. Then she realised what Evie was looking at and smiled. "Was that yours?"

Evie nodded, not wanting to elaborate in case she said something she shouldn't. Immediately Evie crossed to the wardrobe and threw open the doors. All of her clothes were hanging neatly in their correct places, with her shoes laid out on the shelf below.

"Either the TARDIS is freakishly neat, or my mother has been in here." The girl joked, sliding the clothes along the rail on their hangers looking for something to wear. She pulled out some knee-length pale denim shorts, a green vest top and a pink t-shirt. Then she turned to Amy with her head on one side. "Which one?"

"Green, definitely. You're wearing enough pink to last a life time."

The brunette laughed. "Thanks." She dropped the high heels, letting them stay wherever they landed. Then she went into the en-suite bathroom and showered quickly, leaving Amy in the bedroom. When she reappeared, Evie was alarmed to see the red-head sitting on the end of her bed with one of the doll's house dolls in her hand.

She held it out to Evie. "This doll looks like me. See… its even ginger."

Frowning at the toy, the younger girl grabbed hold of it and scrutinised it. "Nah… it's just a toy. Anyway, it's much prettier than you." She joked.

Grabbing a pair of Converse trainers from the bottom of the wardrobe, Evie ushered Amy out, throwing a glance back at the doll which lay discarded on the bed. They headed back out into the corridor towards the console room.

"Give me a sec…" Evie mumbled, running back to her bedroom, scooping the doll up and lovingly returning her to the house, where she propped her up on the toy sofa beside her husband; a toy husband who looked remarkably like Rory. In another room of the house were two more figures; a woman with curly blonde hair and a little girl with dark ringlets. With a smile, Evie felt around the back of the house and flipped a catch, opening a secret compartment to reveal a hidden room at the bottom of the house. Inside it were a toy TARDIS and a little man with floppy hair, a bow tie and braces. The young woman smiled fondly, running a finger over the blue box, before closing the compartment and the front panel of the house.

"You took your time. You alright?" Amy asked, raising an eyebrow, when Evie reappeared out in the corridor.

"Yeah… just forgot my… ring." She said, pointing to the silver band on her finger. Her companion looked bemused, but said nothing and they made their way quickly to join the others.

While they waited for River to join them, Evie quickly filled them in on what they'd been doing and found out over the past three months. The older woman joined them as she finished speaking. Then they listened as the others took their turns to explain what had happened to them. By the sounds of it, none of them had found out a massive amount of information.

"Right." Canton said taking charge and causing the Doctor to look incredibly put out. "Where do we go from here?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Thank you SO much for all the comments! I'm glad to see that the many updates over the last few days haven't got you bored! This is the last update until Friday, because I'm off galivanting with my mates again later!<strong>_

_**Lots of lovely comments would make this week go much faster, I'm sure ;)**_


	18. Voices Through A Wall

"_So, we know they're everywhere, not just a landing party – an occupying force. And they've been here a very, very long time. But nobody knows that, because no one can remember them._" The Doctor said, whirling around the controls. The rest of them stood around watching from a distance. Evie and River were rubbing at their wet hair with towels, trying to get rid of most of the moisture and avoid their hair frizzing. "I found a recording in the TARDIS's data core, so thank you, Evie and River."

"Why are you thanking us?" Evie asked, confused.

"Because you sent the recording."

"We did? I can't remember!" The girl said, glancing at her mother who looked equally confused.

"I'm not surprised." The Doctor said shaking his head. "You'd probably have forgotten as soon as you lost sight of the creature."

"_What are they up to?_" Canton asked re-focusing their attention.

"_No idea! But the good news is, we've got a secret weapon._" The Time Lord announced, throwing down the landing lever and leading the way out of the TARDIS. His companions exchanged glances, each theorising on what the weapon could be, before following him.

They had landed in a field or some other expanse of grassland directly in front of some kind of rocket launch pad. Evie gazed up at the huge, metal machine in total awe, completely forgetting about drying her hair. Beside her Rory was almost shaking with excitement.

"_Apollo 11's your secret weapon?_" River asked in disbelief. Despite all her knowledge, Evie had had no idea that this rocket was Apollo 11. Not that she was intending to pass that information onto anyone else. She had no intention of making herself look stupid.

The Doctor looked as though this was a ridiculous suggestion. "_No, no! It's not Apollo 11… that would be silly!_" He paused for effect before revealing what his secret weapon really was. "_It's Neil Armstrong's foot._"

"Now you're being stupid." Evie grumbled, turning and retreating back inside the police box. "I need a brew… anyone else want a cup of tea?"

There were mumbles of affirmation from the others and the brunette headed down the corridor to make them. When she returned, carrying a tray laden with mugs and a plate of jammy dodgers, they were already in the middle of the planning process. Handing round the drinks and the biscuits, Evie tried to catch up.

"_Well they are everywhere._" Rory was saying as the Doctor paced. "_Every state in Americ– ahhh!_" The Doctor had shot him in the hand with some kind of dart gun. Frowning, Evie wandered over to the railing that ran around the console and leant against it, listening and sipping her tea.

"_Not just America, the entire world!_" The Doctor elaborated, acting as though he'd done nothing out of the ordinary. Rory, shaking his hand in the air, didn't seem to agree.

"_There's a greater concentration here though._" River chipped in, staring at the scanner screen as the Doctor passed behind her. He also passed Evie, moving to Amy's side and taking her hand.

"_Owww!_" She moaned as he shot something into her hand as well. The Doctor said something in a low voice and Amy nodded. Sensing the seriousness of the conversation between them, Rory went over and Evie turned her attention to her tea and biscuit, feeling as though she were intruding. The Doctor walked away from them, moving towards the brunette. Suspiciously she eyed the gun.

"Can I have that jammy dodger?" He asked, pointing at the last biscuit in her hand with a puppy-dog expression. Sighing the young woman held out her hand. Quick as a flash the Doctor jabbed the gun into her hand and pulled the trigger. A shooting pain erupted through the area he'd targeted and she cried out, almost throwing her tea over him. If she'd had a chance to think, Evie probably would have done so on purpose.

"What the bloody hell… Doctor?" She snapped raising her hand, which the Doctor had freed of the jammy dodger, and examining the flesh there. She could see a small scar, underneath which was a tiny bump; hardly noticeable as she run her finger lightly over it.

"_So you've seen them, but you don't remember them?_" Canton clarified.

"_You've seen them too._" River reminded him. "_That night at the warehouse, remember? While you were pretending to hunt us down we saw hundreds of those things. _Right, Evie?"

"Yep. I ran out of space on my arms and legs to mark them off… I had to move onto my neck." The young woman agreed.

"_We still don't know what they look like._" Her mother continued.

Rory jumped in. "_It's like they edit themselves out of your memory as soon as you look away. The exact second you're not looking at them you can't remember anything._"

"_Sometimes you feel a bit sick though but… but not always._" Amy added.

"Yeah, or sometimes there's this weird fuzzy feeling in your head." Evie agreed. Canton, Rory and the Doctor all looked slightly confused by the last two points, but they glossed over it.

"_So that's why you marked your skin?_" The FBI agent asked, glancing between the two younger women.

"_Only way we'd know we'd had an encounter._" The red-head confirmed. Evie nodded and put down her mug on the ground beside her. She moved to the console and glanced at the scanner, tapping at the readings before moving around and flipping switches.

"_How long've they been here?_"

"_That's what we've spent the last three months trying to find out._"

"_Yeah, not easy if you can't remember anything you discover._" Rory added slightly bitterly.

"_How long d'you think?_" Canton pressed.

Evie laughed cynically, looking up from the controls. "How long is a piece of string? They've been here a long, long time."

"_As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye,_" the Doctor continued in his most serious tone, "_or creaking in your house or breathing under your bed or voices through a wall. They've been running your lives for a very long time now so keep this straight in your head – we are not fighting an alien invasion; we're leading a revolution._"

All five of them had stopped to listen to him. River and Evie had stopped fiddling with the controls long enough to stand still and watch. He was talking mainly to Canton, it seemed, standing in front of the American with his back to the other four.

"_And today the battle begins._" He finished dramatically.

"_How?_"

"_Like this…_" The Doctor turned quickly and shot River in the hand with his special gun.

"_AHHH!_" She cried, shaking it to try and alleviate the stinging pain. The Doctor laughed at her angry face before reloading it quickly.

"_Nano-recorder; fuses with the cartilage in your hand._" He explained, shooting himself with the device as well. "_Ahh! Then it tunes itself directly to the speech centres in your brain. It'll pick up your voice no matter what; telepathic connection. So, the moment you see one of the creatures you activate it and describe aloud exactly what you're seeing._" He demonstrated, his voice being repeated exactly. "_Because the moment you break contact, you're going to forget what happened._"

Evie examined her hand while she listened to the recording of the Doctor's voice. There was a small mark on the left side of her right palm, exactly where the Doctor had shot her. The girl guessed that that was where the nano-recorder was located. Experimentally she folded her fourth and little fingers into her palm and a red light flashed beneath her skin. Hurriedly she lifted them again and the light went out. Frowning she prodded at the spot with her left index finger.

"Oh shit, it works!" Her voice said, but Evie hadn't even opened her mouth. She glanced at the Doctor and spoke in a totally shocked tone. "But… I didn't say anything?"

He sighed. "Weren't you listening? Telepathic connection."

"Right, sorry…"

"_The light will flash if you've left yourself a message._" The Doctor continued, shooting her a look that was worthy of a particularly strict teacher looking at a troublesome pupil. "_You keep checking your hand. If you've had an encounter that's the first you'll know about it._"

"_Why didn't you tell me this before we started?_" Canton demanded.

"_Well I did._" The Time Lord assured him with a sigh. "_But even information about these creatures erases itself over time. I couldn't refresh it 'cos I couldn't talk to you._"

The Doctor moved Evie aside and tapped at a key pad on the console. Then he turned back to look at Canton who had glanced briefly over his shoulder. When he looked back, the FBI agent reached out and fiddled with the Doctor's bowtie. The others watched him interestedly. Evie caught sight of a red flashing light on the man's hand and raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"_What?_" Canton asked, realising they were all staring at him. "_What are you staring at?_"

River spoke on all their behalves. "_Look at your hand._"

He glanced down and realised what they meant. "_Why's it doing that?_"

"_What does it mean if the light's flashing?_" The Doctor asked him calmly. "_What did I just tell you?_"

"_I haven't…?_"

"_Play it._"

Canton poked his palm. "_My god! How did it get in here?_" His voice said clearly, though his lips didn't move. Then the voice changed and the Doctor was speaking. "_Keep eye contact with the creature and when I say turn back, do and straighten my bowtie._" Then Canton's voice returned. "_What? What are you staring at?_" Followed by River's; "_Look at your hand._"

Evie's mouth dropped open. How could that have happened without her remembering? But there was no time to think. Looking behind them she saw one of the creatures standing in the TARDIS.

"_It's a hologram extrapolated from the picture on Amy's phone. Take a good, long look._" The Time Lord ordered. The hologram broke up and vanished. The familiar fuzzy feeling rushed through Evie's head and her stomach churned slightly making her feel sick for a split second. "_You just saw an image of one of the creatures we're fighting. Describe it to me."_

"_I can't._" Canton said. Evie shook her head; she couldn't either. Apparently neither could any of the others because they all looked completely blank.

"_No, neither can I._" The Doctor admitted. "_You straightened my bowtie because I planted the idea in your head while you were looking at the creature._"

"_So they can do that to people? You could be doing stuff and not really knowing why you're doing it?_" Amy asked. The Doctor was fiddling with the scanner while the red-head spoke.

"_Like post-hypnotic suggestion?_" Her husband suggested.

Amy paled slightly at the realisation. "_Ruling the world with post-hypnotic suggestion?_"

"Fabulous." Evie exclaimed sarcastically.

River laughed, cynically.

"Maybe that's why we…" Evie said suddenly, a half formed memory appearing in her mind; her mother on top of the Empire State Building with a strange metal box in her hand. Then she shook her head and the image was gone.

"Why we what?" River asked, looking concerned.

"Hmm?" Her daughter glanced up, her forehead furrowed. "What are you on about?"

"You are weird." The Doctor said, shaking his head slightly, before his attention was caught by something and he whirled away talking excitedly.

_**While writing this part I managed to completely freak myself out. The main problem? This line: 'As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye or creaking in your house or breathing under your bed or**__**voices through a wall**__**'. **_

_**And, for as long as I can remember I've heard voices through my bedroom wall, but I put it down to the neighbours (because we live in a semi-detached bungalow and their living room is on the other side of my bedroom wall). But next door has been completely empty for four months and I still hear voices. Now I'm considering that we may have an infestation of Silents. And I'm freaking out a little.**_

_**Any tips?**_


	19. What's He Done Now?

"You're kidding me, right?" Evie demanded, putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow.

"No." The Doctor replied bluntly.

"You actually think that I am going to stay here while you lot go off and do…" she waved her arms around wildly, "exciting things."

River shook her head. "No, sweetie. Amy and Canton are going out to the children's homes, the Doctor needs to go and… play… with a rocket and Rory and I are going to carry on examining that technology we found in the abandoned warehouse. We can use it as a base."

"Why can't I go with Amy and Canton? Or you and Rory?" The girl asked sulkily. The Doctor wore a very similar expression after hearing River describe whatever he was about to do to the rocket, that he'd assured them was incredibly clever, as playing.

"Because we need someone who knows how to use the TARDIS console here to coordinate. Besides, you're brilliant at finding information and we need you to compile a list of the possible children's homes in the target area." Her mother said, soothing her with compliments.

Evie's lips twitched as she fought not to smile as she remembered her friend Donna. "Super temp." She murmured. Then she sighed. "Fine."

"Good girl, Baby." The Doctor exclaimed, tapping her nose and whirling away. "Get on with that list so they can get started right away."

"Yes, sir." She snapped sarcastically, saluting, particularly annoyed that he'd used her 'codename' again. The girl may have agreed to do what they wanted, but she could still sulk if she wanted to.

Pulling the scanner screen towards her, she set up a scan of the area, searching for children's homes. She refined the search several times, targeting the area within a fifty mile radius of NASA's base. While she'd been working, the Doctor had

"OK, here…" Evie handed a freshly printed list of names to Amy. "The third home is run by nuns, the seventh, eleventh and fifteenth are privately owned and the last one apparently closed down in '67, but it's still showing up in the search so it might be worth checking out."

Amy smiled at her gratefully, knowing how much Evie would hate being left behind in the TARDIS. She gave her a quick hug before taking the paper in her hands. "Thanks."

"See… you're good." River told her, winking. Despite her annoyance, Evie couldn't help smirking.

"I am, aren't I?" She agreed.

"So, where are we heading?" The Doctor asked, once they had dropped River and Rory at the warehouse, impatient to visit NASA and take apart Apollo 11.

Sighing, Evie typed the coordinates into the keypad. The Doctor pulled the starting lever and they whirled away, coming to land at the end of a long gravel driveway. The girl leant out of the doors as Amy and Canton exited. She turned hopefully to the Time Lord, but he shook his head firmly and set the coordinates for NASA. Evie sighed again, almost theatrically, and closed the doors, returning to the console.

"Don't sulk." The Doctor ordered.

"I'm not." She snapped, definitely sulking. The Time Lord smirked.

The TARDIS landed and the Doctor leapt eagerly towards the doors. "If you have any problems... well… deal with them." As soon as he vanished out of the doors, Evie piloted the time machine into the safety of the Vortex, waiting for something to do.

Ordinarily the girl would be ecstatic, being left in sole charge of the TARDIS. She supposed it showed that the Doctor did trust her after all. But today she was annoyed. Waiting around while the others were doing important things was frustrating and boring.

"Can you turn up the phone volume, love?" She asked the TARDIS, patting the console affectionately. There were six loud beeping noises, which Evie took as confirmation that the volume had been turned up. Then she stalked through the corridors of the time machine trying to find ways of occupying herself. After three games of skittles along the corridor, two movies in the cinema, a swim in the pool and almost an hour spent straightening her hair, Evie was almost going crazy.

When the TARDIS phone started ringing, the brunette sprinted back to the console room and fell on it eagerly, snatching up the receiver and jamming it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Evie, it's me." The Doctor said. "Things may have gone a little off the plan. I need you to collect River and Rory and then go and get President Nixon from the White House… I've sort of been arrested for breaking into Apollo 11 and need him to get me released. You, River and Rory will have to act as his people. Got it?"

"Yep, we'll be there soon as." She assured him with a broad grin, throwing a lever enthusiastically and dancing round the console manipulating the controls, hardly thinking about what she was doing. The TARDIS touched down in the warehouse where they'd dropped River and Rory off.

"You're back soon?" The woman said in surprise, looking up from her computer device which she was using to take readings from a length of cable running across the floor. Evie glanced at her watch.

"It's been seven hours." She pointed out with a shrug. "Besides the idiot's got himself into trouble."

River sighed loudly, lowering the handheld device and looking at her daughter wearily. "What's he done now?"

"He broke into Apollo 11 and took it apart."

"Let's go." River said despairingly.

They piled back into the TARDIS and Evie piloted them to the Oval Office while the other two went to get changed into more suitable outfits. Then they swapped over while River explained the situation to the President. He looked bemused, but agreed to go with them and get the Doctor out of trouble.

While the three time travellers stood in the background doing their best to pass as White House Officials, with River being the only one who succeeded, President Nixon managed to talk the Doctor out of trouble. The Doctor bounded past them happily, leaving Nixon to say goodbye before his 'Officials' followed him out. In this short space of time Evie winked cheekily at the soldier who had just removed the Doctor's handcuffs, causing him to blush violently and stumble into the chair beside him and knock it over with a loud clatter, as Rory snapped the satellite dish off the model on the table to his left. River rolled her eyes and ushered them out of the room, Rory closing the doors firmly behind them.

In the safety of the TARDIS once more, Evie shook her head at the Doctor who grinned at her and winked, before they headed back to the White House to drop the President off. He was still getting used to travelling in the police box when they landed and the Time Lord propelled him out of the doors. He stared around in wonder as he realised where they were.

The TARDIS phone began to ring as the Doctor went into the office and closed the doors behind him. Evie answered, listening carefully, her eyes growing wide. When the call ended, she allowed the receiver to drop from her hand onto the console, staring between River and Rory in horror.

"That was Canton… Amy… we've got to get there, now!" She passed on, slightly disjointedly. Rory looked horrified, understanding the meaning behind her words, but River jumped into action. She wrenched open the doors and hurriedly passed the information on to the Doctor who joined them instantly. Evie sent them flying towards the coordinates of the last children's home on the list; the one that should have closed down two years earlier.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Thanks for the advice guys... I've really got my fingers crossed that there aren't Silents living next door... but if there are I wouldn't know anyway I guess! :_**


	20. Silence Will Fall!

They landed in front of a huge, creepy looking building. The weather added to the atmosphere cast by the children's home; thunder rumbled and crashed as lightening lit up the sky. Evie shivered, laying a hand comfortingly on the laser blaster in its holster at her side.

There was no time to waste, however, as Amy was in trouble. They sprinted up the gravel driveway and burst through the doors into the hall. None of them noticed the dilapidated state of the decoration, racing up the staircase and along corridors. River was using her hand-held device to track the direction they needed to head in and the others followed unquestioningly. Indeed, they didn't have the breath to spare asking questions as they hurtled upwards.

Finally, reaching the top of the building, they heard Canton's voice. "_Amy, I'm gonna try to blow the lock and I need you to stand back._"

"_OK, gun down, I've got it!_" The Doctor ordered, almost falling up the last couple of steps in his urgency. He aimed the sonic screwdriver at the lock.

"_Amy we're here are you OK?_" Rory shouted anxiously, a microsecond behind the Doctor.

"_I can't see!_" She shouted back from the other side of the door. The Time Lord dialled up the intensity of his sonic blast until the lock clicked open and he burst into the room with Rory on his heels. River and Canton went next. Evie was about to follow when a faint noise caught her attention and she glanced along the corridor the way they'd come. Pointing her torch into the darkness, she thought she saw a shape in a doorway, but a shout from inside the room demanded her attention and she went in.

"_Where is she Doctor?_" Rory asked, confused, as they looked around. Amy was clearly not there, but the spacesuit lay on the ground. River was crouching beside it and examining it carefully. Apparently the young woman had vanished in the time it had taken to unlock the door.

"_It's empty._" River confirmed, raising the visor over the helmet so that they could see inside.

They all jumped and whirled around as Amy spoke. "_It's dark… so dark… I don't know where I am… Please, can anybody hear me?_"

"How…?" Evie murmured, looking around wildly. No one answered, but Rory bent and carefully picked up something that had been lying on the rug. It was a small, flashing cartridge; Amy's nano-recorder.

"_They took this out of her?_" He asked, his voice low and quiet. "_How did they do that, Doctor?_" Amy could still be heard, sobbing loudly, as he stood and stared down at the device. The Time Lord didn't seem to have an answer and Evie couldn't bring herself to look at him or, in fact, anyone else. She moved behind Rory to lean her head against the plaster covered wall, breathing deeply. "_Why can I still hear her?_"

"_Is it a recording?_" River asked. Evie glanced at her, hearing the determination and a hint of anger in her mother's voice. Her face was just as determined as she watched the Doctor scanning the small device.

"_Umm… it defaults to live._" The Doctor said in a hoarse voice. The brunette closed her eyes again, feeling pain and uncertainty washing over her. "_This is current. Wherever she is right now, this is what she's saying._"

"_Amy?_" Rory held the device close to his mouth and spoke into it, pouring all his efforts into sounding reassuring for his wife's sake. Evie glanced at River and was shocked to see that she looked lost and afraid, almost like a child. It was all the girl could do to stop herself running over and hugging her. "_Can you hear me? We're coming for you. Wherever you are we're coming, I swear._"

"_She can't hear you. I'm so sorry, it's one way._"

Rory turned, a fierce glint in his eyes. "_She can always hear me, Doctor. Always. Wherever she is and she always knows that I'm coming for her, do you understand me?_" The Doctor nodded. "_Always._"

"_Doctor…_" Amy said, the nano-recorder flashing as her voice sounded. "_Are you out there? Can you hear me? Doctor? Oh god… please, please, Doctor… just get me out of this._"

"_He's coming._" Rory promised, his voice cracking with emotion. "_I'll bring him, I swear._"

Evie laid a hand on his arm, trying to comfort him. Rory glanced at her, tears in his eyes, before he brought the device to his lips and kissed it tenderly. The girl felt her heart contracting in despair, wondering what would happen next.

"_Hello? Is somebody there?_" A voice called.

Instantly Evie's gun was in her hand, pointing at the doorway. Canton's reaction had been the same and the waited for the owner of the voice to come into view. As a man appeared in the doorway, Canton relaxed, dropping his arm. Trusting him, Evie lowered her own gun, looking at the man carefully. He looked middle-aged, but seemed so much older. His voice had a strange wavering quality to it, almost as though he wasn't sure about what he was saying. His eyes, too, were odd. They darted around and seemed to hide so much.

"_I think someone has been shot._" He told them shakily. "_I think we should help. We c–_" He trailed off, staring into space. River and Evie exchanged a wary glance and the girl fought the urge to raise her gun again. "_I can't remem… I can't remember…_"

This was enough for the Doctor and he leapt towards the man, ushering him out of the room in front of him. "Lead the way!" He said loudly and urgently. The man did as he was asked; taking them down two flights of stairs to a room that looked like an office; judging by the desk that was covered in papers. Now they were in slightly less of a rush, Evie glanced around. The walls were covered in writing.

"Leave this place…" she read aloud. "Get out. Leave now."

"Come on…" River said gently, putting a hand on the small of her daughter's back and forcing her to keep walking.

They entered the office and stopped. One of the creatures was lying on the ground, leaning against a pile of books and writhing as though in pain. Evie was shocked to find that she felt no sympathy for it; only an overwhelming dislike. Her stomach churned slightly and she looked down at her feet, unwilling to stare at the creature anymore.

The Doctor approached in carefully, reaching out a hand and crouching in front of the creature. "_OK…_" He whispered, steadying his nerves, as the others watched from the back of the room. "_Who and what are you?_"

"_Silence, Doctor… We are the Silence._" The creature said. "_And silence will fall!_"

There were a couple of moments of quiet while the Doctor stared at the creature and the others watched both of them. Then the Time Lord leapt to his feet and spun round, suddenly decisive.

"Right… Rory, Canton… get this creature into the TARDIS. River, Evie… go upstairs and grab that spacesuit. We're off to Area 51!"

"Is it safe?" Rory asked warily, peering at the Silent behind the Doctor.

"Course it is!" The Doctor assured him although how he could possibly know that Evie wasn't entirely sure. "Come on, not a minute to lose!"

River and Evie headed back up the stairs to gather up the spacesuit. Yet again Evie was sure she'd seen a flurry of movement out of the corner of her eye and stopped in the corridor, glancing in the opposite direction to where they were heading. She took a couple of tentative steps towards the doorway, aiming her torch at it.

"Evie… you heard the Doctor. Not a minute to lose." River quoted, shaking her head slightly and moving through the doorway into the room where Amy had vanished. Eager not to be left on her own in the creepy building, Evie followed and together they lifted the suit and carried it out of the room.

Neither noticed the photograph of Amy and a baby which was lying face up on the chest of drawers behind them.


	21. Definitely A Fighter

After a quick pit stop to collect the President from the White House, the Doctor piloted the TARDIS into the box that had been created around him in Area 51. They dropped Nixon and Canton there and headed to the warehouse that they were using as a base so that River could properly analyse the spacesuit.

From somewhere within the TARDIS, the Doctor found an old black and white television which they used to keep track on how the preparations for the launch of Apollo 11 were going. This, apparently, was vital to the Doctor's plan, although he hadn't told anyone else what that plan might be.

"_It's an exoskeleton._" River informed the Doctor, as she, he and Evie stood over the spacesuit examining it closely. "_Basically life support. There's about twenty different kinds of alien tech in here._"

"_Who was she? Why put her in here?_" The Doctor questioned, more rhetorically than anything else. If he didn't know the answer then he definitely didn't expect the others to know. Evie shrugged anyway.

"Pretty important kid by the looks of it." She muttered, lifting one of the arms and testing the weight. It was incredibly heavy, much more so than she'd been expecting. She let go and the arm crashed back down onto the table, earning her a sharp look from River. Pulling a face, the girl patted the arm carefully, as though that would repair any damage she may have just caused it. River rolled her eyes. The girl thought for a moment before speaking again. "Maybe she was doing something so important that she didn't even have time for the more mundane, everyday things in life."

"_If you put this on you don't even need to eat._" River agreed. "_The suit processes sunlight directly, it's got built in weaponry and a communications system that can hack into anything._"

"_Including the telephone network?_"

"_Easily._"

"I need to get me one of these…" Evie muttered, lifting a panel on the front of the suit and examining the wiring there closely. She ran her hand along the blue wire slowly, following it through its twists and turns. Then she flicked it upwards quickly. Her mother shot her a disapproving look as it came loose. Evie wiggled it back into place and glanced up at her mother defensively. "What?"

"When did you get so… careless?" River demanded, running a quick eye over the circuit that her daughter had just damaged and looking surprised that she also seemed to have fixed it.

Annoyed that River still doubted her after everything, Evie scowled. "Must have picked up some tips from _Uncle_ Jack. You know, the person who was always there for me?" She snapped, emphasising the word 'uncle'. River narrowed her eyes slowly, fixing her with a horrified gaze.

"_But why phone the President?_" The Doctor asked, not noticing the look passing between the women.

"_It defaults to the highest authority it can find. The little girl gets frightened, the most powerful man on Earth gets a phone call; the night terrors with a hotline to the White House._"

Evie laid a hand gently on the visor, stroking it absentmindedly. "Poor kid. Imagine that being your only option if you got scared…"

"Go and see if Rory's alright." River said, almost sharply. Evie looked a little surprised but did as she was told, perching beside the man on a table a little way off from the others. Unsurprisingly her grandfather didn't seem in a very talkative mood, so Evie just slipped her arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder, hoping that he would understand the sentiment. After a couple of moments Rory leant his head against hers. Evie watched for a while as River and the Doctor spoke in soft voices, until she couldn't keep quiet anymore.

"Have we got any closer to being able to save Amy?" She asked in frustration, moving her head upright so she was looking straight at them.

"_The only way to save Amy is to find out what the Silence are doing._" The Doctor said, pacing again.

"_I know._" Rory snapped, gently removing Evie's arm from his and standing up. He began to pace as well, still clutching the nano-recorder.

Evie rolled her eyes at the Doctor. "So you've told us."

"_And every single thing we learnt about them brings us a step closer._"

"_Yeah, Doctor… I get it… I know!_"

"_Of course it's possible she's not just any little girl._" The Time Lord mused. Evie's head snapped round and she stared at him though narrowed eyes. For some reason this little girl was playing heavily on her mind. There was just something about her… Evie couldn't put her finger on what it was, but the little girl intrigued her.

"What d'you mean?" She demanded.

"_Well… I'd say she's human, judging by the life support software._" River clarified, still taking readings from the suit.

"_But?_"

"_She climbed out of this suit. Like… she forced her way out._" The woman said, looking slightly concerned and showing them the ripped wires in the body of it. "_She must be incredibly strong._"

"_Incredibly strong and running away… I like her._" The Doctor said, almost cheerfully, as he and Evie leant over to look at the damage as well. The brunette couldn't help agreeing with his sentiments. This little girl, whoever she was, was definitely a fighter.

River was still looking concerned. "_We should be trying to find her._"

"_Yes… I know, but how._" The Doctor agreed. "_Anyway, I have the strangest feeling she's going to find us._" He turned and glanced at the television screen, something occurring to him.

"_Why does it look like a NASA space suit?_" Rory asked.

"_Because that's what the Silence do… think about it? They don't make anything themselves; they don't have to. They get other life forms to do it for them._"

"_So they're parasites then?_" River offered, not looking up from the suit.

"_Super parasites… standing in the shadows of human history since the very beginning. We know they can influence human behaviour any way they want. If they've been doing that on a global scale for thousands of years…_"

"_Then what?_" Rory interrupted, shaking his head.

"_Then why did the human race suddenly decide to go to the moon?_" The Doctor challenged him in a low voice. Evie spun around and stared at the television. They were counting down to the launch of Apollo 11 and she watched it with something almost like morbid fascination. "_Because the Silence needed a spacesuit._"

x-x

A couple more days passed while they prepared themselves and ran tests on the astronaut suit. The four of them grew increasingly impatient with each other and everything else as none of the tests provided them with any conclusive information and they were still struggling to understand what they were dealing with. Their moods got steadily worse and their usual tones were quickly replaced with snapping and arguing.

Every now and then Amy's voice would come through the nano-recorder which was constantly clutched in Rory's hand. Every time it did, the four of them stopped to listen, each feeling a settling sense of helplessness. But, afterwards, each attacked whatever they were doing with an increased determination.

"_This suit… it seems to be repairing itself. How's it doing that?_" River muttered in awe as the spacesuit's hand clenched and unclenched several times. "_Doctor… a unit like this… would it ever be able to move without an occupant?_"

"_Why?_"

"_Well… the little girl said the spaceman was coming to eat her._" She reminded the Time Lord. "_Maybe that's exactly what happened?_"

He was prevented from answering by the sound of Amy's voice through the nano-recorder. The three of them crowded round the suit looked over to where Rory was sitting with his back against a crate on the other side of the room.

"_I love you. I know you think it's him; I know you think it ought to be him. But it's not, it's you. And when I see you again, I'm going to tell you properly. Just to see your stupid face. My life was so boring before you just… dropped out of the sky. So just… get your stupid face where I can see it, OK? OK._"

As Amy had been speaking, the Doctor had moved away from the women and the spacesuit and moved closer to Rory. Evie glanced at her mother, who was watching the two men with a strange look on her face. As though she realised that her daughter was staring at her, River jumped slightly and fixed a smile on her face.

"What I said the other day… about Jack…" Evie said quietly, not meeting her mother's gaze. "I didn't mean it. Not at all. I won't even mention him again if you don't want me to?" River didn't answer, she just nodded. Sighing, the girl changed tack. "Gran'll be alright." She promised, although she had no way of being certain. "It'll all be fine."

"Are you sure?" River asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you trust the Doctor?" The brunette asked, smiling slightly as she remembered when they'd had this conversation before.

The answer was immediate. "Always."

"And do you trust me?"

Now it was River's turn to smile as she remembered the conversation as well. She looked deep into the young woman's eyes and used the words Evie had spoken several days before. "Forever."

Evie beamed. "Well then… it's all going to be fine."


	22. Shut Up and Drive

"Ready?" The Doctor asked, glancing round at his companions. They were gathered around the television set, watching the events unfolding on the screen. A three of them nodded.

"_Just five days since Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, this unprecedented journey is reaching its crucial moment._" The television announcer was saying. In silence they watched. "_Armstrong and Aldrin are making their descent to the surface of the moon._"

"Let's go." The Time Lord said. He switched off the television and picked it up, following the others into the TARDIS. In seconds they were off and, in a couple of moments more, they had reached their destination. "Ready?" He asked again. Once more, they nodded and he opened the doors. "_Oh! Interesting! Very __Aickman__ Road… seen one of these before. Abandoned… wonder how that happened? Oh well, I suppose I'm about to find out. Rory, River, _Evie_… keep one Silent in eyeshot at all times._"

"Gotcha…" Evie muttered, noticing that her mother had drawn her gun and was pointing it at the creatures. Shaking slightly, her natural reaction to seeing the Silence, she pulled out her own gun, moving slowly around the central console in a clockwise direction. River went the opposite way and Rory wavered, before following the brunette.

"_Oh!_" The Doctor said, as though he'd already forgotten about the creatures. "_Sorry, were you in the middle of something? Just had to say though… have you seen what's on the telly?_" He set up the small black and white television on the console in the middle of the room. "_Oh hello Amy, you alright? Wanna watch some television? Ah! Now stay where you are…_" He ordered the creatures, glancing around at them warningly. "_'Cos look at me… I'm confident. You wanna watch that; me when I'm confident. Oh... and this is my friend River; nice hair, clever, has her own gun and unlike me she really doesn't mind shooting people. I shouldn't like that… kinda do a bit._"

"_Thank you, sweetie._" River said, moving to stand beside him. Evie got a sinking feeling in her chest and guessed she wasn't going to like where this was going.

"_I know you're team players and everything, but she'll definitely kill at least the first three of you._"

"_Oh, the first seven easily._" She corrected him. Now they were back to back, talking more to each other than the Silence.

"_Seven, really?_"

"_Eight for you honey._" River said in a low, seductive voice. Evie cringed.

"_Stop it!_" The Doctor smirked.

"_Make me._" The woman challenged, leaning her head back against his neck and causing him to wriggle slightly as her hair tickled him. Evie and Rory exchanged a look, his bemused and hers exasperated. She wouldn't have minded so much ordinarily, but this really wasn't the time.

"_Yeah, well maybe I will._"

"REALLY?" Evie called loudly from behind them.

"_Is this really important flirting?_" Amy demanded, echoing the younger woman's sentiments. "_Because I feel like I should be higher on the list right now._" The Doctor had the good grace to look slightly embarrassed, but River just smiled.

"_Yes, right… sorry. As I was saying, my naughty friend here is going to kill the first three of you to attack, plus him behind._" Then he pointed at Evie. "And Evie over there will take a couple of you out as well. _So, maybe you want to draw lots or have a quiz or maybe you could just listen a minute because all I really want to_ _do is accept your total surrender and then I'll let you go in peace. Yes, you've been interfering in human history for thousands of years. Yes, people have suffered and died. But what's the point in two hearts if you can't be a bit forgiving now and then?_"

Evie was standing with her back against her mother's at this point, both women staring between the creatures with their guns pointed threateningly at them. "Is he really just going to let them go?" She asked, surprised.

"Who knows, with the Doctor." River answered shrugging. "But I doubt it."

"_Oooh!_" The Time Lord said. "_The Silence, you guys take that seriously, don't you. OK, you got me, I'm lying! I'm not really going to let you go that easily; nice thought, but it's not Christmas. First you tell me about the girl. Who is she? Why's she important? What's she for?_" There was a slight pause. "_Guys… sorry, but you're way out of time. Now, come on. A bit of history for ya; aren't you proud 'cos you helped. Now, d'you know how many people are watching this, live on the telly? Half a billion! And that's nothing because the human race will spread out among the stars, you just watch them fly… billions and billions of them for billions and billions of years. And every single one of them, at some point in their lives, will look back at this man taking that very first step and they will never, ever forget it. Oh… but they'll forget this bit…_" He pulled out a device from his pocket and held it to his ear. "_Ready?_"

"_It's one small step for man…_" The astronaut on the television, Neil Armstrong, said. All eyes were fixed on the TV as they listened to possibly one of the most famous moments in television history. Suddenly the picture changed. Instead of the moon landing they were looking at a video of a Silent. "_You should kill us all on sight!_" It said in its screechy, echoing voice.

A picture exploded into Evie's mind; River, clinging to a mast and attaching a small, rectangular box to it. A small rectangular box that was supposed to block signals. A small rectangular box that Evie had sabotaged. Without realising it, she had managed to ruin the Silence's attempt to foil the Doctor's plan.

Despite grinning with self-satisfaction at her actions Evie felt a new surge of anger towards the creatures. They had tried to use her and her mother to bring the Doctor down and she wasn't impressed.

"_You've given the order for your own execution._" The Doctor told them, a hint of satisfaction creeping into his tone. "_And the whole planet just heard you._"

"…_one giant leap for mankind._" Armstrong finished as the Silent vanished and the picture returned to the space landing.

"_And one whacking great kick up the backside for the silence! You just raised an army against yourselves. And now, for a thousand generations you're going to be ordering them to destroy you every day. How fast can you run? 'Cos today's the day the human race throw you off their planet. They won't even know they're doing it. I think quite possibly the word you're looking for right now is 'oops'. RUN!_" He said, panic creeping into his voice as the Silent began creating electricity around itself in its fury. "_Guys, I mean us… RUN!_"

River and Evie began to shoot at once, leaving the Doctor and Rory to rescue Amy. Red laser beams shot out of the older woman's blaster, while green ones erupted from the younger woman's. They circled each other, ducking and leaning out of the way instinctively, working together as a team. While Evie was used to her mother's style of fighting, River had never been in such a situation with her daughter before and was relieved that apparently it was just natural.

They shot their way around the room, barely registering how many of the Silents fell as their beams made contact. Evie could almost hear music in her head; the flashes from the laser blasters and beams of electricity being emitted by the creatures acting as the lighting of her own private disco. It helped her to concentrate and focus her aim.

"_Run!_" River shouted, realising that Amy and Rory were still in the middle of the action. "_Into the TARDIS, quickly!_"

The Doctor sonicked Amy free of the chair she had been imprisoned in, before moving to stand back to back with the two women and join in the fight. Where they had laser blasters, he had his sonic screwdriver.

Rory practically carried his wife through the fighting to the TARDIS. Evie made sure that their path was clear, targeting any of the creatures who could have posed a threat to the young couple. She whirled around to see a Silent beside the TARDIS aiming its finger at the pair and shot, hitting it directly in the chest and watching with satisfaction as it slumped to the ground. Her grandfather smiled weakly at her, before disappearing into the police box.

"_Don't let them build to full power!_" The Doctor told them. Evie rolled her eyes and didn't bother to dignify his words with an answer.

River, on the other hand, snapped, "_I know! There's a reason why I'm shooting, honey! What are you doing?_"

"_Helping!_" He told her, sounding slightly offended.

"_You've got a screwdriver! Go build a cabinet!_" River said. Evie laughed at her mother's words, firing off shot after shot and hitting her mark each time.

He was definitely offended by those words. "_That's really rude!_"

"_Shut up and drive!_" She bashed him with her bum, sending him flying towards the TARDIS. Not needing any more encouragement, he disappeared inside, presumably to start up the engines. "You too, Evie, inside."

"WHAT?" The young woman was outraged. She stayed where she was, whirling and shooting as though her life depended on it. Which it did.

"Please… I can't concentrate with you here. I've got one eye on them and one eye on you. Now get in the TARDIS." River ordered. Evie, too, was pushed unceremoniously towards the police box. Reluctantly she fired off a final shot, watching with satisfaction as the target slumped to the ground, and disappeared from her mother's sight.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Guys... thank you so SO much for still reading and commenting on this! It means a lot to know that you're enjoying it and it makes me want to keep writingupdating! Thanks to all of you! :D**_

_**Special thank you's to... Shifuni, 1945 and sashaxh for lots of lovely comments!**_


	23. A Very Good Hugger

"_You can let me fly it!_" The Doctor snapped grumpily as River reappeared in the TARDIS and immediately went to the console.

"_Yeah, or we can go where we're supposed to._" She replied calmly taking no notice of the scowl on his face and continuing to move around the controls. "Evie… the stabilisers need to go on… and that lever there? Move it 90 degrees clockwise and then 180 degrees anti-clockwise." She ordered.

The brunette grinned. "I know…" She was already half way through doing as her mother had instructed before the woman had started speaking. River smirked proudly. The Doctor scowled even more as he realised that the young woman had joined in flying his TARDIS as well.

"You really need to lighten up, Doctor." River said, grinning even more broadly as the trio danced around the controls and each other.

"No I don't." He said childishly. River glanced at Evie who grinned and moved behind the Time Lord quickly.

"Is someone Mr Grumpy-Pants because the girls are better at flying his time machine than he is?" She teased him, tickling his sides at the same time. He writhed, trying to get away from her, and fought to keep the smile off his face.

"Get off… pest!" He said in a mock angry voice, swatting her away. Evie laughed as he reached out to ruffle her hair and ducked so that he missed and ended up brushing River's bum with his hand as it fell. He instantly went crimson.

"Oh, Doctor!" River gasped pretending to be shocked. Then she winked and chuckled. He grinned as well, still bright red. "At least wait 'til later!"

"Eurgh… gross!" Evie complained, turning away from them. Then her eyes fell on her grandparents kissing on the lower platform; Amy's arms round her husband's neck and his wrapped around her waist. "Double gross!"

"Oh, grow up!" Amy called, breaking away from her husband and glancing up at the young woman. She grinned and returned to kissing Rory.

"I am actually going to throw up!" Evie moaned, marching away down the corridor from the console room, the sound of laughter following her as she went.

x-x

"_So we're safe again._" President Nixon beamed, shaking the Doctor's hand firmly. They'd called in to tell him that the Silence had been neutralised and they were leaving.

"_Safe? No, course you're not safe. There's about a billion other things out there just waiting to burn your whole world. But if you want to pretend you're safe just so you can sleep at night, OK, you're safe. But you're not really._" The Time Lord said, leaving the President looking incredibly confused.

Evie giggled softly, leaning against the TARDIS. Amy was sitting on the sofa beside the time machine, while River leant in the open doorway of the police box and Rory leant against the other door. Although they'd been fighting the Silence less than fifteen minutes ago everything seemed so relaxed and comfortable and… well… safe. President Nixon, however, looked far from relaxed after the words of wisdom he'd just received from the Doctor. If anything he looked even more concerned.

"_Canton…_" The Doctor turned away from the President. "_'til the next one, eh?_"

"_Looking forward to it._" The former FBI agent said with a smile, shaking the Doctor's hand firmly.

"_Canton just wants to get married. Hell of a reason to kick him out of the FBI._"

"_I'm sure something can be arranged._" The President assured him.

"_I'm counting on it._"

Evie smiled and waved at Canton, who grinned back, before she pushed gently past River and headed inside the TARDIS. The brunette didn't like goodbyes at the best of times and this had been enough of a goodbye for her. She was intending to write them a note and head home, back to Stormcage, before they came back in.

Her plan was foiled, however, as they appeared moments later, before she'd even finished scribbling her note.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked, creeping up behind the girl and catching her by surprise.

"Nothing." The young woman replied guiltily, shoving the unfinished note in her pocket.

"You were planning on leaving without saying goodbye, weren't you?"

Evie shrugged. "I don't like goodbyes. Besides, I'll be seeing you very soon."

"Really?" Amy pouted a little, not wanting her friend to leave. "When?"

"Very soon; on my birthday, I told you before!" The brunette laughed and pulled her grandmother into a tight hug. She clung to her, breathing in her scent which was so different from her mother's and yet oddly similar. It was just as reassuring at any rate. Then she broke away and turned to face her grandfather. "Rory."

The man smiled and held out his arms. Evie fell into them and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him just as tightly. She nuzzled her head into his neck as she had done when she was little and he'd carried her to bed. There was a quiet coughing sound from behind her and Evie let go.

"I think that's enough hugging." Amy said, slightly jealously. Evie couldn't help herself laughing a little. The idea that Amy was jealous of her where Rory was concerned was too funny!

"OK." She agreed before turning to the Doctor. "Stay out of trouble, you."

He chuckled and pulled her into a bear hug, squeezing her until she spluttered and tried to push him away. Despite the fact that his jacket was slightly scratchy, the Doctor was a very good hugger.

"And you, baby-face. Be good. And I'll see you on your birthday."

"Don't forget to get me a present. A good one, please." She half-joked. The Doctor smirked, ruffling her dark curls. "No, really." She added seriously. His face fell a little, before she grinned and winked.

"Evie…" River stepped forwards. She hesitated for a moment before holding out her arms. The brunette hugged her, closing her eyes and clinging to the woman. "Love you." She whispered, low enough so that only her daughter could hear.

"Love you too." Evie whispered. Then she raised her voice. "I'll see you soon."

"Looking forward to it, sweetie."

With a final glance around at her favourite people in the universe, she smiled and pressed a button on the Vortex Manipulator, vanishing through time and space.

x-x

All of the lights were out in the corridor when Evie materialised back at Stormcage. Unwilling to wake her mother, who could become incredibly moody if woken up before she was ready, Evie merely reached up, retrieved the key from its hiding place and let herself into the cell. She replaced the key, wondering as she did each time how the guards still hadn't realised how she and her mother got in and out, and crept across the cell to her bed. It creaked loudly as she sat down and Evie froze, her eyes fixed on River for any sign that the sound had woken her. It was lucky that the woman was such a heavy sleeper, the girl thought as she slipped off her boots and climbed into bed.

After everything she'd been through since she'd last slept in this bed, the girl was sure that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep easily. But, as soon as Evie's head hit her pillow, she found herself sinking into a deep sleep.

River opened an eye and propped herself up on her elbow, smiling at the sleeping figure affectionately. The woman knew what was coming next and it could wait until morning. Evie deserved at least one night's sleep before what she was about to encounter. Carefully, anxious not to wake her, River climbed out of her own bed and lay down beside her daughter. It had only been a few days since Evie had left, but the woman had missed her immensely and was relieved that she was back.

Sighing, River stroked Evie's hair gently, snuggling closer to her and closing her eyes. It was a good job her daughter was a heavy sleeper, the woman thought as waves of sleep washed over her.


	24. Tea and Toast With Jam

"Breakfast!" A loud male grunt sounded through the corridor, accompanied by a ringing metallic banging sound. Blearily Evie yawned and blinked several times. Her eyes settled on the brickwork beside her and she realised slowly that she was home. It was strange, she thought to herself, that she thought of the prison cell as home. But, she supposed, they did say home was where the heart is and Stormcage was where her mother was. Unable to keep a small smile from settling on her lips, she rolled over and found herself inches from River's sleeping figure.

After jumping slightly at the proximity, Evie smiled fondly and extricated herself from the blankets. She slid down the bed, so as not to disturb her mother, and moved to the bars of the cell. Still dressed in yesterday's clothes, she leant against the cool metal, waiting for the guard to appear with the food trolley.

"Back then, are you?" The guard observed with a sniff as he brought the trolley to a halt outside cell 46. He was middle-aged and balding with a large bulbous nose and bushy eyebrows. The man had been doing the breakfast rounds for as long as Evie could remember. "Go anywhere nice?"

"It would appear that I am, Jeff." The young woman said with a smirk. "And yeah, it was fun."

"Alright for some. Your mother is still here, I'm assuming?" Jeff asked grumpily, peering past the brunette for a glimpse of the older woman.

"Yep, she's still in bed." Evie assured him, glancing at the trays of food on the trolley. "I'll take a continental breakfast this morning I think… pain au chocolat, orange juice, maybe some French baguette?"

"Tea and toast with jam." The man said humourlessly, unlocking the cell and handing her a tray. Evie put it down on her mother's bed and turned to receive the second tray he was holding out. "And cornflakes and coffee for Doctor Song."

"Worth a try." Evie told him cheerfully with a shrug. "See you tomorrow."

Jeff grumbled something as he locked the cell once more and trundled away, pushing the trolley as though it were some kind of weapon. With a grin, the young woman lifted the cover off her breakfast and took a large bite of toast, moving over to the wardrobe as she did so. She'd been wearing the same outfit for too long she decided, rooting through her clothes until she found something more comfortable to wear. With no intention of heading off on any more adventures for a few days at least, she settled on a baggy pair of jogging bottoms and a t-shirt with a hoody over the top. After a couple of days rest she thought she might take the Doctor up on his suggestion and join in on their visit to Vincent Van Gogh.

"Is breakfast here?" River asked sleepily a while later. Evie was dressed and sitting on the floor with her back against the bars reading her mother's diary. She had never read the account of her mother's time in 1969 before, but now she saw that if she had everything would have been far simpler. "I should really keep that away from you."

"Yep, you should." Evie agreed, glancing up and grinning at her mother. She stretched over and picked up River's mug and passed it to her. "But to be honest I never remember the important parts anyway." Then she remembered a question she wanted to ask. "Mum… what happened between you and Uncle Jack?"

"Nothing to concern you, darling." River said firmly, turning away and swinging her legs out of bed.

"But it is!" Evie said, pouting. "I want to know!"

"Why?"

"Because I like you hanging out in Torchwood with me! Besides, you and Gwen are now like best friends; which I'm a little jealous of."

"I don't have to go to Torchwood to see Gwen, though. Last time I saw her I just popped round to her flat." River told her, taking a sip of coffee.

Evie bared her teeth. "Just tell me, mother."

Sighing, River nodded. "Alright… but it was totally stupid. He asked me if I thought he looked good in his coat and I said I preferred a man in a bowtie."

Her daughter's mouth dropped open. "Is that it? Seriously?"

"Well… there might be a little more to it than that. But I'm sure you don't want to hear it." River told her, raising an eyebrow. Then she laughed, padding lightly to her bunk and removing the cover from her breakfast. "Where's your diary?"

"I haven't written in it for a while."

"You should. Now that you and I don't always match up, it would be helpful." She took a large gulp of coffee, watching her daughter carefully. "Go on then. Write everything down… start from where you left off. Every single trip."

"What, now?"

"Well, yes, sweetie. We've got a while before we need to get going. I need to eat and get dressed at least." River told her casually, digging her spoon into the bowl of cereal. Evie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"Get going?" She asked, standing up and returning River's diary to the bookshelf before retrieving her own. Now that her bed was vacated, the young woman sat on it, curling her legs up beneath her and opening her diary to the last page she'd written on; the adventure with the Shambonie, an alien race with big foreheads, just after she'd returned to Stormcage. Of course, that particular adventure hadn't happened yet as far as Amy, Rory and their Doctor were concerned.

"Mmmhmm…" River nodded, her mouth full of cereal. She chewed and swallowed before elaborating. Impatiently Evie started scribbling in her small notebook, trying to remember the important details of her visit to revolutionary France with the Doctor and the others without borrowing River's diary to remind her. "It's my birthday."

Her daughter looked up, pulling a face. She glanced at the calendar she'd stuck on the wall to make sure, suddenly worried that she'd lost track of time. "No it isn't. Your birthday isn't for another three months."

"Technically, yes. But we're going to my birthday. The day I was actually born."

Evie dropped her pen in surprise. "Really?"

River nodded. "Today's the day when they find out who I am."

"What, all of it?"

"No… just that I'm Amy and Rory's daughter." The woman said, shaking her head. "But they'll find out the rest soon enough."

"Are you sure?" Evie questioned warily. "I mean, everything's really gonna change when they find out, right?"

"Yes, sweetie, it is."

"So, where are we going?"

"Demon's Run." River said calmly. Evie's eyes widened, remembering the poem her mother had repeated to her over and over again when she was younger. It had almost been a lullaby to her as a small child. The words were imprinted on her memory, burnt into her brain.

"Not… not the same one as in the poem?" She asked. "Demons run when a good man goes to war." I thought that was like… demons will run… I didn't realise it was the name of an actual place."

"It is… and it isn't." Her mother replied confusingly, rummaging around in the wardrobe. "Demons run from Demon's Run. Do you remember the poem? All of it?"

"Of course… _Demons run when a good man goes to war_. _Night will fall and drown the sun, when a good man goes to war. Friendship dies and true love lies; night will fall and the dark will rise, when a good man goes to war. Demons run, but count the cost; the battle's won, but the child is lost, when a good man goes to war."_ She recited, hardly having to think about what she was saying.

"Think about the words. That's what we're facing." River told her calmly, pulling out a familiar green dress with a zip up the front. "This is the dress I was wearing when you saw the younger me, isn't it?"

Evie nodded, still thinking about the wording of the poem. The last line haunted her. '_Demons run, but count the cost; the battle's won, but the child is lost, when a good man goes to war._' She was struggling with the meaning. "Mum… who was the child… the child that was lost?"

"Me."

"What?" The brunette gasped.

"I was born Melody Pond; the name of a superhero." River explained, changing into the dress. She realised that Evie should know everything before they went. "A woman, Madam Kovarian, kidnapped me. I was a rather extraordinary child. There was a battle… the battle of Demon's Run… the Doctor and his 'army' won, but they took me anyway."

"But…"

"That's why we need to go, baby. To show them that everything turns out alright… and to give the Doctor a nudge in the right direction."

"How are you going to convince them that you are their daughter?" Evie asked. In all the years she'd known her grandparents she'd never once questioned anything to do with her mother's birth or childhood. Not that anyone would have told her, anyway. Life was to be lived, not talked about, as her mother always told her.

"You'll see."

"You're not exactly helpful, d'you know that?" Evie informed her mother sulkily.

River just laughed at the girl's accusation. "Don't worry, I'll do all the talking. You just need to be there and look as though you know what's going on, alright. Besides, once she finds out who I am, Amy will put two and two together and work out who you are after your little slip up."

"But…" Evie gasped. "So she was always supposed to find out who I was like she did?"

Her mother nodded and smiled. "I told you before; everything happens for a reason, sweetie."

"How do you know all this?"

"I know everything."

"Oh… shut up." The brunette said half-heartedly with a sigh. Sometimes it felt like River really did know everything.

Her mother laughed and pulled her into a one armed hug, kissing the top of her head affectionately. "But watch out for the Doctor… he's going to be furious at us for not being there earlier."


	25. Kissing Noises

Sure enough the Doctor was absolutely livid when River and Evie materialised in a large, airy building that looked rather like an empty aircraft hangar. He strode purposefully towards the two women, dressed in the same outfits they'd been wearing when he'd seen them; in Evie's case what she'd been wearing on her birthday, during their Pirate adventure. River had persuaded her daughter that she needed to change back into the outfit, though she didn't really give her a reason, just saying that it would encourage them to trust her.

"_Well then, soldier, how goes the day?_" River asked loudly. The two women stood side by side, keeping their heads held high as everyone turned to stare at them with varying expressions of shock and anger on their faces.

"_Where the HELL have you been?_" The Doctor demanded, striding towards them furiously. His voice echoed around the huge building, helping to amplify the anger that was radiating off him. "_Every time you've asked I have been there. Where the hell were you today?_"

"_I couldn't have prevented this._"

"_You could have tried!_" He roared. Evie was slightly relieved that he hardly seemed to have registered her presence, instead focusing on River.

"_And so, my love, could you._" The older woman told him calmly. The Doctor, who had started walking away from them turned and looked back as though she'd physically punched him.

Beside her mother, Evie was doing her best to keep her face expressionless and not show just how confused and lost she was with the situation. She knew barely more than any of the others, perhaps less as she did not know what had happened here, except what River had told her.

"_I know you're not alright,_" River said looking across at her parents, "_but hold tight Amy, because you're going to be._"

The Doctor strode towards them once more, his face a mask of pure anger. "_You think I wanted this? I didn't do this… this wasn't me!_"

"_This was exactly you._" River snapped back. "_All this; all of it! You make them so afraid. When you began, all those years ago sailing off to see the universe, did you ever think you'd become this? The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name… Doctor; the word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. But if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean?_"

Even Evie was shocked by the amount of venom that was behind her mother's words. She stole a glance at her grandparents, wrapped in each other's arms, and saw that they were staring at the woman in shock. The Doctor looked gobsmacked and was frozen to the spot.

Walking around him, River continued her speech. "_To the people of the Gamma Forests the word Doctor means 'Mighty Warrior'. How far you've come._" The Doctor turned to her with anger still on burning in his expression, although now it was mixed with intense pain. He turned, walking away from her, towards Evie and the TARDIS. The girl didn't want to look at him, neither was she able to look away. "_And now they've taken a child; the child of your best friends. And they're going to turn her into a weapon just to bring you down. And all this, my love, in fear of you._"

The Doctor approached River, almost menacingly, stopping just in front of her. "Who are you?" He demanded.

There was a brief moment of silence as each considered the other. Then River smiled, her eyes lighting up as she skipped backwards away from the Time Lord. He moved quickly after her, grabbing at her wrist.

"_Oh look, your cot… haven't seen that in a very long while._" She said in a far lighter tone, dancing away towards the wooden artefact. A quick glance at her grandparents told Evie she wasn't the only one struggling to understand the situation.

"_No, no! You tell me. You tell me who you are._" The Doctor demanded, keeping a firm grasp on River's arm. She had one hand on the side of the cot and she was staring into his eyes. Despite the way he was gripping her arm she didn't seem the slightest bit worried. Instead she glanced down into the cot, before moving his hand off her wrist and onto the wooden cradle.

"_I am telling you._" She told him softly, her voice and expression full of meaning. "_Can't you read?_"

Glancing down into the cot, the Doctor's expression softened, comprehension dawning on his face. Neither Amy nor Rory seemed to get the message, but Evie felt her heart expanding slightly as the Doctor gazed at River and a small smile appeared on his lips. The girl felt tears springing to her eyes as she saw just how happy her mother was now that the truth was out in the open. Evie didn't think River had ever looked more radiant than she did then. This was their moment; everyone else was forgotten.

"_Hello…_" The Doctor said, his tone strange, as though he was holding back a laugh. Evie beamed, biting her lip to stop herself laughing as well.

"_Hello._"

The Doctor did laugh now, the strangeness of the situation overwhelming him. "_But that means…_"

"_I'm afraid it does!_" River admitted.

Glancing at Amy and Rory the Doctor pulled a face. "_Ooh… But you and I! We… we.. we.. we.. err…_" He made kissing noises and Evie snorted with laughter, burying her face in one hand to try and stop the sound breaking the moment between them.

"_Yes!_" River breathed suggestively, leaning into him and making the Doctor laugh again. He rubbed his hands together before turning to Amy and Rory again and looking slightly nervous.

"_Oooh…_" He repeated, pulling a face. Then he calmed himself and straightened his jacket and bowtie purposefully. "_How do I look?_"

The woman looked him up and down, smiling happily. "_Amazing._"

"_I'd better be!_"

"_Yes, you'd better be!_" She agreed, laughing.

"_Vastra__ and Jenny, 'til the next time. Rory and Amy I know where to find your daughter and on my life she will be safe._ Evie… Evie…" A look of realisation flashed through his eyes and he glanced at River, who tilted her head slightly as her lips twitched into a smirk. He glanced down again, his eyes widening. "Evie! You be good. _River, get them all home._" He stalked towards the TARDIS, ruffling the brunette's hair affectionately as he passed and beaming at her. "Oh, Evie!"

"_Doctor!_" Rory cried as the Doctor removed the shield around his time machine with the sonic screwdriver.

"_No!_" Amy cried, leaping after him. "_Where are you going? No!_"

But the Time Lord didn't respond, in fact he didn't seem to have heard either of them. He went into the TARDIS, poking his head through the door to look at River one last time and pointed at her with a wide grin on his face. Then he glanced briefly at Evie, still beaming, before he vanished. The TARDIS dematerialised with its familiar whooshing sound, leaving them all staring at an empty space.

"_Where's he going? What did you tell him?_" Amy demanded, walking slowly towards River. Evie glanced nervously between her and the older woman, wondering how her mother was going to convince them that she was telling the truth.

"_Amy, you have to stay calm._"

But apparently the red-head had no intention of doing what River told her. She bent down and picked up a gun off the ground, pointing it directly at the woman. "_Tell me what you told the Doctor._"

"Amy, don't!" Evie called out, stepping towards the young woman quickly, but Amy turned to face her instead, turning the gun on her.

"Shut up!"

"_Amy! No, stop it!_" Rory tried to reason with his young wife, but she wasn't in the mood to be pacified.

"_It's OK, Rory… _Evie…_ she's fine, she's good._" River assured them, completely calm. "_It's the TARDIS translation matrix; it takes a while to kick in with the written word. You have to concentrate._"

Amy glanced quickly at the circular writing on the base of the cot. Then she shook her head and tightened her grip on the gun which was still pointing at River, now at point blank range. "_No, I still can't read it._"

"_It's because it's Gallifreyan and doesn't translate._" River explained as Rory gently prised the gun from his wife's hands. River reached into the cot with one hand and took hold of Amy's hand with the other. "_But this will._" She pressed a green piece of fabric into her mother's hand. "_It's your daughter's name in the language of the Forest._"

"_I know my daughter's name._" Amy snapped.

"_Except they don't have a word for pond, because the only water in the Forest is the river._" The woman's face was pleading with her parents to believe her words. From the spot where Evie had stayed, she watched unsure whether to be hopeful or not. "_The Doctor will find your daughter and he will care for her, whatever it takes. And I know that…_" There was a pause as Rory and Amy studied whatever was on the piece of fabric River had given them, before glancing back up at her. "_It's me… I'm Melody. I'm your daughter._"

* * *

><p><strong><em>Argh! Penultimate chapter times! That's right... there's just ONE more chapter left.<em>**

**_That's it._**

**_Finished._**

**_Finite._**

**_The End._**

**_Can you tell I'm a little sad? :(_**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Anyway... I have got something in my mind that I COULD work on next... BUT I really want to know your opinions about whether I should because I really REALLY don't know whether you'd want to keep reading about Evie? I, personally, could probably just keep writing her forever. But are you going to get bored if I do that?<em>**

**_My idea is: Evie's diary. Basically a collection of the adventures that Evie's got up to with the Doctor and River and the others. What d'you think? PLEASE let me know! :D_**

**_Love, as always! B xxx_**


	26. Good Luck

"_It's me… I'm Melody. I'm your daughter._" River said quietly.

Rory and Amy stared at her in complete shock. It was obvious that they didn't know whether to believe her or not. The atmosphere was too much for Evie and she stepped towards her mother, whose gaze was still fixed on her parents.

"I'll take Vastra and Jenny home." She offered, not waiting for her mother's nod of agreement before shuffling over to the Silurian and her companion and glancing at their clothing. "Grab hold of me… Victorian London right?"

"Here…" Jenny leant over and typed the coordinates into Evie's Vortex Manipulator as Madam Vastra got a firm grip on the young woman's waist. Jenny raised an eyebrow at the lizard-like woman. "That's enough!"

Confused, Evie let the comment wash over her, pressing a button on the device on her wrist and feeling the familiar swirling feeling as they rushed through the Vortex. She breathed deeply as they landed with a bump in a lavishly decorated parlour. Impressed, the girl glanced around, taking in the décor with appreciation and giving a low whistle.

"Nice…" She murmured. Vastra and Jenny smiled at her.

"You make it sound as though you've never been here before!" Vastra said in amusement.

Evie frowned at her. "I haven't."

"Oh… have we not met before now then?" The Silurian asked, tilting her head slightly to one side as she studied the girl. Evie nodded.

"Yes, once. In London in 2023; you both needed our help with something… I'm not telling you anything else about it. I was only about fifteen at the time." Evie said.

"I look forward to that, then." Vastra said, nodding. "We've met you quite a few times more than you've met us, apparently."

"Don't tell me anything!" Evie warned her, raising her hands to her ears.

The Silurian smiled. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Jenny grinned too and hugged the girl, taking her slightly by surprise. Obviously the pair of them knew her much better than she knew them. Once her initial surprise had passed, Evie hugged the woman back.

"I'd better go… maybe time it so a little more time has passed before I re-join them." She said cheerfully, once she'd hugged Madam Vastra as well, tapping at her Vortex Manipulator.

"Good luck." Jenny wished her, nodding. Evie grinned and dematerialised, heading back to Demon's Run. She'd set the device for half an hour later, deciding that that was long enough for the initial shock to have been overcome, but not so long that they'd have already left.

x-x

Her grandparents seemed to have taken the news far better than Evie would ever have expected. She returned to find the trio sitting on a mixture of crates and other makeshift seats, talking calmly and quietly. Almost unwilling to break the moment, the girl waited until she was noticed before joining them.

"Evie!" River called, waving her over, a bright smile on her face.

The girl walked slowly towards them, perching on the rectangular crate beside her mother and smiling nervously at the other two. After glancing briefly at her, Rory's gaze had flipped back to his grown-up daughter, but Amy was looking at her with wide eyes. When River slipped an arm around her daughter, pulling her close, the red-head looked as though she was about to faint.

"Evie… oh my god… but you… you're…" She said, unable to string a coherent sentence together. Smiling awkwardly, the brunette glanced at her mother for reassurance. River nodded at her, signalling that everything was alright.

"Hi…" She said quietly. Amy pressed her hands over her mouth, tears escaping from her eyes once more as she stared at the young woman, only a few years younger than she was.

"Rory…" Amy started, trying to find the words that she needed to explain why she was reacting so strangely to Evie. "This is… she… River is… River?"

"Evie's my daughter." River told her father gently, understanding the imploring look that her mother was shooting her. "She's your granddaughter."

The young man spluttered, muttering indistinctly. There were a few minutes of silence where Evie stared at her hands which were clasped in her lap and wondered what the others were thinking. Finding out that they had a grown-up daughter on the same day as their new-born daughter had been cruelly snatched away from them was one thing, but discovering that that daughter had a daughter of her own, one that was almost the same age as you, must have almost blown their minds.

Glancing up nervously, Evie saw that Rory was on his feet. Hesitantly he held out a hand, which the girl took, allowing him to pull her to her feet and into a tight hug. Evie smiled, closing her eyes and burying her head into his chest. It wasn't particularly comfortable as he was still wearing the centurion outfit, but she didn't care. Her grandfather stroked her hair gently. When they broke apart, the brunette found herself being pulled into Amy's arms as well.

"This is so… weird!" Rory exclaimed, ruffling his hair and shaking his head.

River laughed happily. "Did you really expect anything less, travelling with the Doctor? We don't get anything normal."

"How long have you known…?" Amy asked Evie slowly. She still had her arm around the younger woman as she slumped down onto her seat, forcing Evie to sit beside her. Not that the brunette was complaining. Having everything out in the open was such a relief.

"For ever. I spent so much time with you when I was a kid. I saw the older version of you not that long ago… just after my birthday. The older version of the Doctor took us to that health spa on Midnight as a treat. And d'you remember that doll's house you saw in my room on the TARDIS?" She asked and Amy nodded, thinking back. "Gramps made that for me when I was really little. That's why the doll looked like you… it was you; a doll version, obviously."

Rory made another spluttering noise. "I make doll's houses?"

Evie giggled, amused that out of everything that she'd just told them that was what he was focusing on. River laughed as well. Then Amy joined in, realising that, although the situation was just so strange, it felt right. Finally Rory started to laugh. In minutes the four of them were all laughing, almost hysterically, for no particular reason. The atmosphere was so happy that none of them wanted to break the spell.

But the spell was broken; broken by a familiar whirring sound. The TARDIS materialised slowly. They stopped laughing, still smiling, and watched as the doors opened and the Doctor leapt out. He stared at them warily for a moment, as though wondering what kind of scene he was going to be greeted with. Realising that four happy faces were looking back at him, he leapt out and made his way over quickly.

"Ah! The Ponds." He said excitedly. "Everything sorted out?"

They nodded and he moved to sit down beside River. Evie immediately spotted that he was sitting far closer than he needed to be and raised an eyebrow at her grandmother. Amy struggled to hide her smirk, causing her lips to twitch as she watched the pair. The younger woman wondered whether it would always be like this with the young version of her grandmother; much more like friends than anything else.

"We should go on holiday." The Doctor suggested.

"Umm… aren't we forgetting something?" Rory pointed out, glancing between the females in his family. "River might be here, but where's the baby? Where's Melody?"

Amy's face fell as she realised that, in the shock of finding out that River was her daughter and everything that had followed, she'd forgotten all about baby Melody. Evie gripped her hand tightly, signalling that it would be alright. River smiled reassuringly.

"Melody is fine. She's completely safe and happy." The Doctor promised. "You'll see her again soon. But for now… holiday?"

"Doctor!" River complained, sensing that perhaps now wasn't the best time for him to get into one of his stubborn moods. "I don't really think –"

"Come on, it'll be fun!" He pressed, beaming round at them all. None of them looked particularly thrilled by the idea. The mention of baby Melody, even though the Doctor had assured them that she was perfectly safe, had dampened all of their spirits somewhat.

"Just leave it." The woman hissed, shaking her head firmly and glancing at her parents who were looking sad again.

"But… it'll take your minds off everything! I think it's a bri–"

"Is it any wonder Evie's so stubborn! Like father like daughter!" River snapped at him, glaring ferociously. Then she stopped, shooting Evie a wide-eyed look and pulled a face as she realised that she'd let the truth slip so easily. She had struggled to keep the truth hidden from her daughter for twenty years, on the Doctor's orders, and she'd just blurted it out.

"What?" The girl demanded, leaning forward and staring blankly at her mother who was covering her mouth with her hand. Allowing her gaze to flicker towards the Doctor, Evie saw that he was staring at River as well, his mouth hanging open shock; evidently he hadn't known the truth either. Although it was something she'd always suspected, finding out for certain nearly knocked the breath out of her.

No one spoke for a couple of seconds. Then Rory stood up, his gaze fixed on the Doctor and his eyebrows furrowed angrily. "You got my daughter pregnant?" He demanded.

The Doctor gulped.

* * *

><p><em><strong>ERK.<strong>_

_**That's it.**_

_**The End.**_

_**So, what do you think? Remember, I love comments!**_

_**I also want your opinions on my idea for the possible next 'part'. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make me happy and let me know!**_

_**Love, B xxx**_


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